Chuck vs Ellie
by Shutupnkissme313
Summary: A post finale story that was inspired from another story that was sadly deleted. This story has been done with that author's permission.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is an adaptation of an unfinished story that the author chose to take off the site. Rated T for language. The story starts right after Rivers and Roads finishes. One major canon change for this is when Chuck reaches Sarah at the beach she immediately asked for their story.**_

**Chuck vs Ellie**

**Chapter 1: Silent Exit**

It was the best kiss she could ever remember. If any kiss could have memory retrieving properties this would have to be it; alas even this kiss could not undo Quinn's machinations.

"Well?" Chuck inquired, his brown eyes initially full of hope, but with each passing nanosecond of silence the eyes became ever so weary.

Not wanting to lie like she had at the fountain a week prior when leaving him, she attempted some levity in letting him know the news; although hardly her instinctual choice she sensed he would appreciate the effort. "I would say it was more outstanding than well."

Chuck couldn't help but smile and even display a brief blush, but his features once again began to harden and started to stand up. Neither had noticed during the kiss Sarah had latched onto Chuck's shirt utilizing her kung-fu grip. Sarah soon acquiesced and brought herself up with Chuck rather than letting go. Following the growing feeling in her gut one hand released his shirt and made its way to the back of his neck. Not knowing whether or not the second kiss would bring back any memories, but she desperately needed it and she could not recall the last time she needed anything like this. His lips opened up all set for another round when just before they connected Chuck placed his hands on her shoulders slightly pushing himself away. Sarah opened her eyes with a look of puzzlement and apprehension after looking at Chuck's face.

"I'm sorry Sarah, I just can't do this unless I know you're back."

Sarah's face dropping gave Chuck the answer that he was hoping not to get, but needing to tell him some truth she started to speak, "No memories returned, but… Chuck?"

At the sound of 'no' Chuck released her shoulders and turned beginning to walk away. Stopping when he heard, "Wait, please."

Unable to turn to look at her, donning his Carmichael voice he stated, "Agent Walker." Sarah slightly shivered at the brusqueness of his voice, "I will always hope that someday my Sarah will come back and if she does I want to be as much a part of her life as she'll allow me." The hope laced within the words buoyed Sarah momentarily, "You Agent Walker, I can somewhat understand why you would believe Quinn and detonating the room with us in it was professional. Your taking Ellie was personal and watching your eyes I know that you were willing to pull the trigger on an innocent and not lose any sleep over it."

Chuck completely tensed; rolling his shoulders and balling his fists knowing he had crossed a major line he turned and forced himself to look at her while she was trying to see if he understood what he had said, "Sar… Agent Walker, I should not have said that. Sleep can be a very difficult thing for you, I know and that was just the stupid phrase that first came to mind." Sarah nodded wanly at that, "I guess no matter what anybody has said to me, including you, as to how much you've changed I never believed it. I never could. The problem is that whenever I look at you I immediately see my Sarah and my heart breaks all over again." Chuck barely gets out the last few words and Sarah starts to close the gap between them before he holds out his hand as a stop signal, "Agent Walker you were right at the fountain and back in Castle. We both need some time apart and your mission in Burbank is complete."

The finality of when Chuck said 'complete' made her take a step backwards. She tried to look into Chuck's eyes to see if he really meant that, but he was looking down. "Ok Chuck, they need me to go back to DC and take some tests and have some paperwork for me to fill out. They said I had to do it within a week or two, but I guess I'll go now… Goodbye Chuck." Sarah turned and struggled to walk away.

Chuck looked up and shouted over incoming tide, "Agent Walker I'll make sure all of your things are placed in your hotel room so that you can go through and keep what you want. Goodbye Agent Walker." Hearing that Sarah's pace quickened but was unsteady; Chuck watched just in case she fell as the waves easily drowned out his whispered plea of, "Please come back to me Sarah."

**Casa de Woodcomb**

After leaving the beach and sitting in her car it took Sarah some time to get herself together and drive. Finding herself in front of their apartment complex she scanned the lot to make sure the Nerd herder wasn't there. She parked and after a minute left her Lotus and walked to a door. The knock was much harder than she intended as she felt a twinge in her knuckles from it. The person answering the door surprised her as well, Mary Bartowski.

"Sarah, Chuck isn't here. He went to look for you, if you want to wait inside and we'll…"

"Mother, No! Agent Walker is not welcome in this household. If you need to discuss business with your fellow agent, please take it outside. I'm going to check on Clara."

"Eleanor, last night you were trying to help her. What's changed?"

"Last night I was trying to get back my sister, unfortunately the person at the door is the farthest thing from the Sarah that I knew. I just… hold on there is one thing I need to ask her," Ellie makes her way to her front door and opens it up staring at Sarah up and down with a disapproving look. A dismissive shake of her head preceded the question, "You are leaving aren't you? Because if you are staying I'm canceling moving to Chicago. So, what is it?"

Sarah quirked an eyebrow as this was a classic power play move and of the three women here, Ellie would have been the initial person of this group dismissed as being the alpha. In looking over at Mary's surprised face she was in the midst of processing this as well. Seeing her face begin to contort, Sarah decided to answer Ellie before it went any further. "No Ellie, I am going back to DC for some tests and then I guess there is some paperwork to sign. I'm not sure what I will do after that."

"Good." Ellie slammed the door shut. Sarah could hear the shout of 'Eleanor' through the door, but left before Mary opened it again. Leaving the parking lot she was completely numb; the only decision she felt able to make was pulling into the long term parking at LAX. It was at least a promise to herself that she would return and attempt to reconnect with Chuck. Although she only knew life as a spy, the spy life had lost the appeal that once fueled her. She was certain that fuel was now a tall, kind man whose eyes told her everything she had wanted was possible, but had no idea on how to make her way back to him.

_**A/N: Not expecting a warm response to this one and the way the story is going to proceed is different than how the original author was going to go. If you feel the need to say the Bartowski siblings are acting OOC, perhaps there is a reason for that. However as always, let me know what you think and thanks for reading.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: For those worried about negative reviews hindering the story, please don't worry about that.**_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 2: Realization**

**Present day (two years post beach)**

Hearing the phone ring brought her headache to the forefront, knowing who it was before even looking at the screen she contemplated letting it go to voice mail, but knew the calls would continue until she answered. Even with that she still hesitated before answering, "Good morning little brother."

"I'm panicked."

"Did something happen?"

"You told me after two years I could rightfully panic, even though I have been since that first night. She's never coming back, is she?"

Despite her maternal instinct kicking in, wanting to comfort her brother she also knew he had to face the truth that his fears were probably correct. "I'm sorry sweetie although my advice apparently hasn't worked I still stand by it. Trying to convince her to stay would have come out one of two ways: if you weren't successful she would be gone for good even if she got her memories back because she'd realize how much her leaving would have devastated you. If you would have convinced her to stay everyday she'd be confronted by the guilt of not remembering, looking at you hoping something would spark a memory. With her training she may have even faked remembering things once she felt she knew enough about the 'new' Sarah to portray her convincingly. From what she's said of her past I think a lot of her dedication was fueled by self-loathing from working cons with her dad; staying with you would have put that in a perpetual motion at some point leaving because it was all too much for her."

"She had changed."

"You both had, at that point though you were probably closer to Bryce than Buy-More Chuck in terms of confidence and capabilities while she was back to pre-Chuck Sarah where your not by the manual spy moves would now draw frustration or disdain rather than the admiration they originally had."

"How do you know that last part?"

"After your honeymoon and before the 'toes in the sand' we had a girl's night and after a few mojitos we both started talking about you and kind of shared nearly every secret we had about you." The memory of that night brought the first real smile thinking of Sarah in a very long time, but Ellie brought herself back to the present quickly. "You haven't forgotten about what's happening in a few weeks have you?"

"Something other than my sister being recognized by the AMA; not likely. Although I did have to look up the Excellence in Medicine award. How could I forget, plus it is the first chance I've gotten to see her since the lunch we had at LAX when you were between planes. Gah, sorry, I'm not trying to lay blame; it's just strange being in a world where I see my mom once a month and I've seen you thrice in two years."

"It is weird and I know that hasn't made things any easier on you, but when I get involved in something…"

"You go all the way."

"Yep, I am hopeful because the award has started to bring some grants around and I'd like to put in a joint venture with a hospital in LA that is doing some work that could be beneficial to mine. If that happens I'll be up there more often, maybe you'll think about moving back?"

"No I don't want to uproot Molly, spending time with her and Emma has been one of the few things that has made this time bearable… I didn't even get to tell her they were safe…"

"Chuck… Chuck so there hasn't been any trace of her coming back to the LA area."

With no answer Ellie looked to the phone and saw they were still connected and then heard something starting with a huff, "No, every week the manager at Maison 23 still sends me a message that nobody has asked about her or anybody that looked like her has been in so he still has the note and the key to the storage facility where her car is as well. That reminds me I need to go up there and drive it to make sure everything is in working condition still."

"Chuck, I think you need to stop."

"Ell, a Lotus is a very finicky car just letting it sit for a long period of time can mess with a number of the systems."

"I'm not talking about the car and you know it… Have you even tried seeing someone since we last talked?"

"No, there is no way that is going to happen. I know you think I just sit around in my apartment moping, but I don't. I run a couple miles in the morning, pick between one of the ten breakfast spots that I like, go back check my messages which doesn't take that much time, code a little bit, pick Molly up from school and take her to the park, or dance, or ice cream. Once during the week and then every Sunday I'll have dinner with them, the other nights sometimes I'll cook or order some take out, talk to Morgan and Alex, code a little more, watch some television or a movie and only occasionally do some online gaming. Is it a dynamic lifestyle, no, but it is much better than wallowing in my bath robe eating cheese puffs."

"Chuck, I just don't want you to be alone."

"Ell, even if I somehow found a woman that was willing to overlook my nerdisms and that I'm completely devoted to a woman I dumped on a beach two years ago… I'm going to stop 'cause I can feel you putting up something on or Craigslist and I don't want that." The last line ending with more than a hint of exasperation. "It doesn't matter, without her I am alone even when I'm with Morgan, or Molly, or you."

Sensing the emotion building and not wanting it to end like a number of their recent phone calls had with one of them, usually Chuck, but she had more than her fair share, getting mad at the other and ending it before it got too bad. The funny thing was it never interrupted their calling schedule. She would call him on Saturday and he would call every Wednesday at this time. She made sure there was nothing scheduled for her, but there was always the potential surprise. "Chuck, I was hoping you could make this a decent visit. I know Clara would love to show her Uncle some of her favorite places in Chicago."

"Ell, I already bought my ticket. I'm flying in the night before and back out the morning after." Chuck shocked himself with the lie, but it felt like Ellie was trying to manipulate him and he didn't want to be handled.

"Oh, I was really hoping you would be staying at least a week." Disappointed she battled herself before succumbing and sniffled.

"Ell…" Chuck released a long breath, "Maybe I'll…"

Ellie smiled before her hand grazed a foot lying in the bed behind her, "No Chuck, you have obligations and I shouldn't guilt you into staying longer than you're comfortable with. Besides the time leading up to it is filled with interviews and after is going to be meetings trying to secure those grants. If you were here I wouldn't probably notice it until you were gone. When this blows over and things have settled, I can drag the family down to San Diego. I'll have earned some time off."

"Really, that would be great, but I'm sure I can…"

"Chuck, no it's ok. I mean Mom is flying in the day of, so giving me one night to focus on I can try to finish up all the pre-event festivities and have that night just for the four of us. Are we good?"

"I'm sorry, Ell. I don't know why… I know you're not responsible… Even though you were probably right in what would have happened, I still… We're good, no matter what Ellie. Maybe we can talk about Clara and Molly on Saturday. I'm sure there's a lot going on there so I'll let you get to it. Bye, big sis."

"Bye Chuck." After ending the phone call she just stared at the screen for a few moments lightly tracing her brother's smile before putting the phone back in her pocket. She turned completely to face the patient and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She looked down before swinging an arm with a monitor at the end to face her and turned it on. She made it to the door as she could hear, 'Day 21…'; quietly exiting the room where a few minutes later a tiny blip played across one of the machines.

_**A/N: Initially I was going to have a lot more in this chapter, but decided on breaking them up and see how that shapes out. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: This chapter may seem to jump around a bit. It is happening in Chuck's mind for the most part so he sometimes gets sidetracked within his line of thought. I do not own Chuck.**_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 3: What Was Chuck Thinking? **

**San Diego CA **(apologies to all those Germans seeing the setting, I am not trying to offend)

The swirl of emotions running through his body whenever he got off the phone from his sister was beginning to annoy him. Was it simply missing her? She had been his emotional rock for the majority of her life and just when she was finally able to escape and build the life that she wanted; a large pillar- knowing her brother was in good hands was completely destroyed at the last moment. He could always sense the guilt in her voice despite his insistence she hadn't abandoned him or that he didn't blame her that her advice hadn't worked or the blowup she had when Sar… Agent Walker… Enough of that crap she was Sarah, even if it was apparently too late.

He hadn't lied to Ellie about his life, but he wasn't fully honest. He did all of those things he said, but this was completely different from Stanford or when he initially failed as the 2.0. With those he felt hollow, now it's rage. It was like he could feel it accumulate, but he was able to keep it under control, with one exception. The breaking point began less than a year ago some eighteen year old punk decided to take a woman's purse and ran into him as he was trying to get away. As the kid pushed against Chuck to try to flee, Chuck snapped, and without the need for a flash in one quick motion he flipped them over placing Chuck on top. His first punch he saw Bryce's face breaking his nose, the next punch he saw Shaw and delivered major damage to his eye. He stopped before delivering the third punch; not as the witnesses stated because the sound of the sirens meant the police had arrived and he had detained the ne'er-do-well; it was because the third face he saw on the kid was his own. The Empire Strikes Back flashback notwithstanding Chuck hadn't hit rock bottom yet; this thought reminded him of the phone call he had to make when he was done with his mental beratement.

An item he hadn't told Ellie was he'd drag himself out of bed around four am or so when he knew he wouldn't get anymore sleep and go work out before his run. Prior to the incidents it was primarily weight-lifting along with beating up on an attack dummy and despite being a not so witty shot from Shaw, the heavy bag. Afterwards he added in some meditation before bed and Tai Chi in with his morning workout. He realized even if Sarah had come back during that time she wouldn't be driven away as that is his Sarah, but they would be miserable. At that point he recognized what Ellie had casually said in their conversation; he was turning into somebody more like Bryce or Casey, angry and bitter whether from their own choices or what hand the fates had dealt them. He had to bring himself back. The only people who got to witness the 'old' Chuck were Emma and Molly. The strangest thing was they were the only ones who didn't harp about Sarah; Morgan, Alex, Casey, Devon, his mom, even Ellie although hers seemed almost the opposite- pushing him to get on with his life. He was used to Ellie acting like this, but it seemed more intense than before.

When he first arrived on Emma's doorstep, he took the two to a local fair. He had been there for two weeks putting the finishing touches on his new home. A simple two-story brick rectangle built in the 50's about two miles from the ocean. It was in an industrial section that got caught up in the real estate bubble. A developer got over extended buying the properties and greasing politicians to get a zoning change. He got the change, but there were four properties he did not get before he filed chapter thirteen. Initially Chuck looked at those properties as the bank would want to turn them around quickly just to get rid of them, but for some reason this one caught his eye and speaking with the current owner who was the son of the man who built it convinced him this was the place and Carmichael Cyber-Security Inc was born. The purchase was quick; fifty thousand dollars along with a clause the man could get it back for a dollar before any developer. The money was one of the first questions Emma asked about, unlike the others. Granted it took her two days after his tearful admission of the biggest mistake of his life for her to call, and since his coming over would coincide with Molly at school; he knew it was going to be difficult.

Being slapped and brought inside before he could say anything led Chuck to believe this was going to be as bad as being threatened by Fulcrum while Cole showed the heroism he could not. Emma started to cry as she brought Chuck to a couch and surprisingly accepted his comfort before she slapped him again. Giving a more detailed explanation and the advice Ellie had given she relented on the physical and began the questions. When it came to what she was going to live on she understood the answer. After getting Hartley's wedding gift, the honeymoon was disrupted to travel to Monaco to finalize the transaction. Once the business was completed and the marriage consummated in Europe (Emma was not told of that) Chuck wanted to go down to see the casino, but Sarah ushered him out to allow her a Casino Royale moment. Apparently the casino was well versed as the server stopped Chuck as he started winking as she said she knew what he wanted. He started at baccarat and quickly turned the ten-thousand into fifty-thousand, after getting his drink he went to the poker table and held his own, but a well placed full house got him to two hundred thousand. He had just been dealt his cards when Sarah made her appearance. Chuck's senses soon left him and out of turn pushed his chips all in without looking at his down cards. Sarah found him as the river was turned and after a kiss and a little prodding the three and five of clubs turned into a winning flush giving him 1.1 million. After regaining his faculties the next few hands he quickly bowed out before allowing Sarah to give it a try. Three hands later they were up to two million and decided they had fulfilled the first part of the Bond experience, on the way out a spin of the roulette wheel landed on the 00 and they entered their hotel room with almost 2.4 million in cash.

As they were recuperating from a vigorous session, Sarah shared they could put some of the money in a safety deposit box she had in Monaco. A little more talking led to Sarah disclosing there were six places she had similar setups in the US, two of those were set up for a couple with things she added after Longshore's bunker attempt. The idea then popped up for Chuck to set up a few 'safety cushions' as well. They decided for Sarah to keep her four, add two more as a couple and Chuck to create four. Two hundred-thousand would be added to the twelve boxes and as a precaution Sarah did not tell Chuck where her four personal ones were and he did not tell her where his would be.

The beep alerting him about a new e-mail was the only thing that brought him back from reminiscing on the dress. No, it wasn't the dress; there were a number of other women that night that wore more provocative clothing. It was purely her; if Aprhrodite had shown up she would have bowed down to Sarah that evening. He clicked open the e-mail, but it took him a half hour to recover before reading it.

_**A/N: Not where I had originally planned to leave this chapter off, but it paints the picture of how Chuck is at this state. There will be another chapter finishing the setup before Chuck's trip to Chicago. Thanks to those reading and reviewing. There have been two guest reviews; it doesn't take much to get an account and I do respond to my reviews with an e-mail. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not, but to those with a question I try to explain as best I can within the point I am at in the story. For those wanting to ask about Chuck's business, hold off for the next chapter; since I don't think I'll get to it I think of his house as a former marine (water not Casey) warehouse**_**. The first floor has a small office and reception area, but in the back has a training/workout area, computer array/gaming area, and a small range. **


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: As always thanks to those reading and reviewing.**_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 4: Help Is a Call Away**

The e-mail was a confirmation for a meeting next week and was easily taken care of, but it did distract his train of thought. Looking at his phone he easily remembered as the menacing glare of retired Col. Casey was staring back at him. Trying to delay it a little longer he took a large swig from the glass beside him when he realized it was a Devon concoction that he hadn't tried yet and now thoroughly regretted it. Rinsing his mouth he filed that away to question Devon the next time he talked to him and grabbed the phone once again.

"It's about time moron."

"Casey, I've apologized about your wedding, I thought you said Gertrude forgave me, although she doesn't want to speak to me… still?"

"No, we both forgave you that night once you were found. Your speech about love eating your heart and shitting it out needs a rewrite. Although it might have been better received after the rehearsal dinner than before, but you were half in the bag already."

"I don't even remember that… Casey I am so…"

"Kid stop; I'll finally put you out of your misery. After your speech we were all shocked that you simply sat back down, ate, and went back to your room peaceably. Morgan went to check on you in the morning and you weren't there, but the woman at the front desk said that you were slurring when you stated you were going out for a run. We waited as long as we could, before going to the church and after the ceremony Alex and Morgan found you in a corner of your room one empty bottle of Black and another more than half empty, a melted carton of mint ice cream, and you in your boxers with a ukulele on your lap. Gertrude and I stopped by before we went to the airport and the reason she hasn't been able to speak to you is that you scared her."

"I was in that bad of shape?"

"No… I mean you were pathetic, but it hit her just what losing 'that' person can do to you and when numbnuts told us the story behind the scene… that's why she can't talk to you on the phone. She fears she'll break down and well she'd actually rather do that in person. At the worst it gives you both six months to come up with something for the lady feelings before you come back to Miami."

"What's happening in six months?"

"Since I have a say I am not going to have Grimes be the Godfather to my child… Are you crying?"

"No, I'm feeling the habaneros in this drink from Devon."

"Oh, the beet juice, avocado one… did he tell you to puree and not pulse? I told him he had to change that otherwise it was Mystery Crisper like."

"I'll have to remind him… Wait… Casey, congratulations. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet? Did you just ask me… if you did the answer is unequivocally yes. If not I'm still very happy for you."

"I did and your answer is noted. How's your computer fix-it shop doing? You still employ your mother-in-law? If you're ready to get back into something bigger, Gertrude is looking again for somebody to head the West coast branch?"

"I can't, I think there's another Bartowski who would probably be great at it though as long as she can get out in the field every now and then. I know she is looking to get out from the desk the CIA has her at right now. My business pays the bills and my lone employee and yes she is an integral part. There also is a little bit of freedom with this job. Oh and Molly loved the birthday gift you sent." Chuck left out the teasing he was going to put his ex-partner through.

"I knew you'd turn it down and wasn't even going to ask, but if you think your mom would go for it, that would be perfect… I was hesitant about the Queen Amidala outfit."

Chuck hitched his breath slightly knowing the reason then relaxed, "She even wore it for the first half of her soccer game and scored her first goal."

"Why did she change out of it?"

"Some of the parents of the other team complained about it. Emma had brought her uniform, coming back out for the second half she had this look of determination on her face that was so… She scored three goals in five minutes. I know they aren't really sisters, but…"

"Chuck, if you taped the game; we would love to see it." Casey said softly.

After a long pause a, "Ok, it is sent. What's been going on, any big assignments that you cannot tell me about?"

"Actually I just got back from DC. Whomever the CIA has tracking down people is a bunch of morons. It took them three months to locate me for Roan's spywill… You were right."

_For those that feel the need to perform the Wayne's World mumbo-jumbo for a flashback do it now._

Chuck closed his eyes and felt some relief, instead of carrying two tons it was now one point eight or so. Eleven months after Sarah left and a little less than three that he had stopped his search that he hadn't told Ellie about. In a twelve hour span Roan Montgomery disappeared from his home in Bel-Air and Diane Beckman disappeared from her home in Fairfax, Virginia. Following the dissolution of the Intersect project interagency cooperation disintegrated except when confronted by the press, but then a well timed press release sent them scurrying elsewhere.

With no word on ransom demands and his reputation the CIA stopped looking for Roan after a week, the NSA kept up the task force for a month before they packed it in, but the last two weeks were merely somebody checking if her credit cards or phone was used and somebody parked in front of her driveway. Casey had called Chuck immediately and each went through the house closest to them undetected, Chuck was able to clone Roan's laptop, but Beckman's desktop did a Mission Impossible self-destruct when the NSA techs connected it via a different power cord. The laptop had been wiped extensively, but Chuck was able to find a sliver of data regarding islands in the South Pacific. So he shared his conclusion with Casey after confirming a purchase for a group of them had occurred the month before the disappearances. They had finally tired of the spy game and went off together. Casey wanted to believe it, but he also wanted to be sure. Chuck's refusal to give him the info and destroying the links to the location made their conversations tenser up to the wedding. They agreed on a truce; if Casey came up with anything that hinted they were in trouble Chuck would reveal the islands' location.

_End of flashback_

"That's a relief, what convinced you. Did he pass along a coded note or safety deposit key?"

"No, just a sextant."

"Ok."

"When you were on your honeymoon, damn… I went back to DC for a few days and had dinner at the General's and Roan was there. She stepped away from the table for something and he commented that she was his North Star. Combining the numbers from that with the seven numbers the General had in her last letter to me I was able to contact them."

"Wait, how did they know you'd be in Miami, or did they use the Washington Monument or…"

"Castle, the General ended her letter with 'the base of a man can be found in his home'."

"Really… ok… So how did they fit? Casey? Come on."

"I can keep a secret as well."

"Was it at least an interesting conversation?"

"Yes, they had hoped that I would have gotten the sextant a lot earlier. The General hoped you had started searching again when I told her… Well she also apologized that your and Walker's CIA credentials were purged by Decker. The scuttlebutt about Carmichael is that he or she was a number of different agents and the reports were exaggerated. There is nobody that she trusted with the truth of you in the Intelligence realm, and if you bring up the Intersect in any form, they will come after you to test you and that could not happen under any circumstance. We also talked about what made you stop your search."

"Damn you Casey. You don't understand."

"The hell I don't. You crossed a line neither Sarah nor I wanted you to. We didn't find her but we freed and found almost one hundred young women stopping who knows what from happening to them; including the blonde CIA agent in that black-ops program."

"Forrest looked completely different yet so familiar as a platinum blonde… Casey I know what you're thinking and that's not the reason…"

"You didn't feel guilty."

"What… How did you know? I mean…"

"That miserable son of a bitch deserved everything that you gave him. The info you got after shooting him in the leg took down a major portion of the white slavery trade in Western Mexico. When I told you I stayed for a few days to shake a few leads I wasn't fully honest with what I did. I waited to see how they would treat the bastard. The motherf'n town gave him a parade through town before burying him. There was a guard that first night, but the second night I didn't care so I took him out dug up the corpse drove an hour into the desert, dumped him out, pissed on him, and left for the nearest airport. "

"Why?"

"A lot of reasons, preying on who knows how many women for two decades, getting kids hooked on junk and convincing others to smuggle it across our border, or taking the best man I know and showing him the side that exists in everybody."

The silence seemed to last an hour, but it was barely thirty seconds before Chuck softly said, "I need to start again."

"I know."

"I was going to say that even before this story."

"I know that too. You also know because you stopped didn't mean that I was going to. I have exhausted the spooks that will talk to me and a number that won't, but got tired of my boot print. Gertrude has a standing order for bringing info on Sarah with her contacts around the globe. There has been nothing. I was just in the process of starting from scratch and focusing more on what happened before she even came back to Burbank. All I got was an interesting story about Sarah blowing out a door on an in-flight airplane; parachuting into the ocean and striding ashore wearing black leather and a scowl."

"Ok, just send me all the info and I'll filter it, expanding the timeline to when she left me in the courtyard."

"You are up for it?"

"Yes, it used to be more often, but after your wedding I found Dr. Dreyfuss. He is retired, but he will still see special cases currently I was seeing him every other Sunday. He does not know about the current Intersect, but that is the only thing I've kept from him. He has helped assuage my guilt for not feeling guilty and that I was beginning to blame Sarah, in thinking that she was the only reason I would go that far. He asked if I would do anything different if it were Molly, Clara, Ellie, and so on which halted that. He also helped me realize I can't wait any longer, I need to find her and at worst give her the closure that she deserves, at best allow me to give her the love… Send me everything you've got and I hope you haven't whittled away your vacation time, because there's an event in a couple of weeks I need to take my wife too. Thank you John."

"You're welcome kid, I'll send you everything I've got here, there's some other stuff at work that I'll send after I watch a soccer game."

They each disconnected the call and Casey having had all the files prepped sent them to Chuck. Starting the video file he was going to fast forward through the first half stopping to watch her goal in regular speed, but seeing her out there in that robe with the headdress playing hard, but smiling and enjoying life as only a child can. When she got her goal Casey cheered and replayed it twice. He also marked the clip and sent it to his wife, getting the immediate response of a clapping emoticon he laughed to himself. When he looked back up it was nearing halftime and Chuck forgot to shut it off after congratulating Molly he could see a group surround the ref and pointing at Molly. Chuck went to the group and tried to diffuse the situation. He readily agreed that the headdress wouldn't be worn as it could accidentally harm another child. For some reason the woman was insistent she simply not put the soccer shirt over her costume even when Chuck calmly pointed out two players on her side were wearing Spiderman tops under their shirt. After listening to the lady drone on for a few minutes more when Chuck broke out his Carmichael voice

"Fine. If I thought you were a human being I'd force you to tell her that she cannot wear what she wanted to, but I am certain you would come up with something to make her feel bad about it. Instead if you have any morality you had better run back to your sideline whooping it up on your great victory here and tell everybody who asks 'what was that about' exactly what this was about. Get going you witch."

Casey wished he could have seen the look on that woman's face, but Chuck was soon explaining to Molly why she had to change saying the headpiece was his fault; if she fell she could hurt herself or somebody else. Molly said she understood, but when Chuck told her the rest she had to change out of so it wouldn't get dirty didn't go over nearly as well when Molly asked why did that other woman care if she got her outfit dirty. Chuck was stumped since despite her lengthy tirade, there was nothing that came close to a reason why she couldn't wear her shirt over it. Instead Chuck hugged her and told her to go out there and have fun. Once he settled back in his seat and realized he taped the halftime shenanigans he asked Emma to remind him to delete it before he sent it out to everybody. As the camera focused on Molly, Chuck's description was eerily accurate and watching her go through and around the other team like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl added to his resolve that they would leave no stone unturned until they found Sarah.

_**A/N: Just in case the timeline seems a little confusing. Soon after Sarah left and did not return, Chuck and Casey searched for her. A lead they followed eight months after the beach took them to Mexico where Chuck killed a man. Three months later Roan and the General disappeared. A month after that Chuck beat up the purse snatcher and two months after that Casey and Gertrude are walking down the aisle. The order isn't vital to the story, but focusing on it may cause the larger picture to be missed. Beckman and Casey's talk was excised a little; originally she was going to inform him that he was never CIA , she could only make him an NSA agent but that made that a much longer conversation which didn't further this along. The key is her leaving means the amount of people on the inside that are willing to deal with him(them) are few. Thanks for reading.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: The last chapter was an attempt to explain how this scenario played itself out on Chuck's end. Do I expect everybody to think by the end that the characters acted non-OOC. Yes and no, I can understand if you don't, but that is one of the difficulties I accepted when trying to write this story. Thanks to those who continue on. This chapter is probably going to be longer than the others as I want to get the story moving a little more. **_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 5: Headed For a Showdown**

Having spent most of the last two weeks in airports, dive bars, two prisons, even a cave and it had all been for naught. They had Sarah's timeline pretty well set from the time she left after Chuck was shot to when she left the training outpost in Langley. Soon he would be arriving in Chicago or did he still have to catch the connecting flight. Opening his eyes long enough to check on his phone answered that he was due to arrive in Chicago in half an hour. Devon was supposed to be there to pick him up as he needed to ask him some questions. For the first time in three days he fell asleep and replayed the whirlwind of events.

Things started off so well when Casey showed up the evening of the phone call seventeen days ago. His first job though was to play with Molly, keeping her up past her bedtime on a school night, but none of the four minded. Chuck dissected the new information and they found the person Sarah called after leaving Chuck at the fountain. He was one of the top analysts she worked with while part of the CATS. The analyst did not respond well to Casey's confrontational approach, so Chuck tried a softer one and after answering a few questions the person asked Chuck to hold on a second and soon a vid-chat request beeped on Chuck's computer. After seeing Chuck's face the analyst apologized and quickly filled in all of the information he had from first locating Quinn, but after the incident on the plane he had lost Quinn's trail. When she called a few days later asking to pick her up at the airport he could see Chuck's body slump. Pausing for a moment he continued on with what Sarah relayed to him.

After her arrival in DC and meeting with a few key members of the CIA they kept her in the hospital strictly for ten days. The next two weeks she was shuttled back and forth between the hospital and interviews with various people. A number of these meetings had the sole intent in locating the mysterious Charles Carmichael. They never went so far as torture per se, but they would keep her in a room for a number of hours: turning the temp up or down, withholding water when she asked for it. That practice stopped as it appeared when she was dehydrated and stressed she would sometimes suffer from something between a migraine and a stroke.

Despite their treatment of her and their reluctance to offer help in regaining her memories they offered her a temporary position as an advisor to recruits at Langley. She said she needed a week to think about it and they allowed it. Once released she went to one of her stashes and was shocked to find far more money than she expected and a love letter she had written to Chuck to meet her during a lunch break. The rest of the week was spent researching recovering lost memories. The analyst studied Chuck's reactions while telling the story, hoping that he recalled absolutely everything as he had assumed when she finally left she was heading back to Chuck.

She accepted the advisory position mainly because it allowed her access to her mission files. The other caveat was she could not contact anybody in the intelligence field outside of the CIA. Apparently there was a turf war within the intelligence departments and they were all pissy about it. Her new job gave her time to go over the reports, although she was called in at least once a week to be asked about Carmichael. After seven weeks she had gone through all her files and at the next interrogation Sarah asked if there were any plans to help with her memory. After a number of unsuccessful deflections she simply said that she was done; turning in her credentials and walked out the front door having already packed the few things she had brought to Langley. She tried to contact Beckman, but the General was in Berlin with strict instructions not to be disturbed. It was then that she decided to leave DC and for the analyst's safety she took a taxi to the airport. When Chuck asked if he knew her destination, he could only reply that she did not tell him that or even which airport she was flying out of. Unfortunately he could not recall the exact date she left either, however the analyst said he would try to figure it out and would let Chuck know when he did.

Following the trail Chuck wanted to contact the person who could have potentially spoken to Sarah last and also somebody who would have the clout to gather more concrete intel on potential CIA interests. Casey agreed and made the call.

Initially irritated that Casey called them again so quickly, her tone changed once the subject matter was broached. When she was reminded of the call while she was in Berlin she let out an irritated growl. "I told my staff I was only to be contacted if WWIII broke out or a Bartowski called since War was a potential outcome with their call. When I found out Sarah had called and they thought what I said was a joke I dismissed the lot." She apologized to Chuck as she relayed Sarah did not leave a return number. When both she and Roan offered to come out of 'retirement' to aid in the search Chuck stopped them saying only as a last resort, instead that they will see each other again with Sarah by his side.

The next person Chuck contacted was his mother and after his first question if she'd been trying to track Sarah and her response of, "It's about damn time," brought a sense of déjà vu. She was able to confirm just about everything the analyst had told her plus a little bit more. The sessions were actually tests run by black-ops heads fighting to get her on their team and waiting for her to get tired of advising and leave Langley to approach her directly.

Mary had been spending her free time tracking down any reports of a beautiful and deadly female agent. She literally butted heads with one of the black-ops leaders breaking his nose when he wouldn't answer her question. Casey's gleeful grunt aside, that was the reason for her current desk assignment. Casey then made the offer of heading Verbanski's west coast operation and she accepted on the provision she would stay in the CIA until Sarah was found, if Gertrude needed to move with somebody else sooner she would understand.

From her research Mary found ten potential sightings, but two had KIA attached and she could not get anything from the files to rule Sarah out: autopsy notes or interviewing the mission leads. She gave all the most recent info she had to them; adding that if they needed her screw the CIA she was going to get Sarah. Casey was the one to stop her saying she was the only one with access to the latest info and if she were to suddenly catch the 'flu' they may close out some ops and potentially send Sarah's group underground. Throughout the next two weeks when they went out into the field to find Sarah, Mary was contacted every night. When none of those leads panned out it didn't deter Mary who promised to keep looking until she had to fly out for Ellie's award.

There was one more stop that Chuck had before he was heading to Chicago, and it was the one he was dreading the most. Casey insisted on going with; to keep Chuck from making a mistake and if he couldn't, make sure he got a few punches in to the SOB that shot him. Waiting for him tensed them both, hearing his whinny when he was brought into the room curdled their stomachs. Shaw sensing he had the high ground exclaimed, "Uh oh what did Sam do now?"

This caused Chuck to move quicker than Casey could ever recall as he took Shaw's head and smashed it into the door as the guard stood shell-shocked. Casey merely grabbed a heavily breathing Chuck, not from exertion, but trying to calm himself; and said to the guard, "We'll let you clean him up a little then bring him to the standard visitor section as I'm sure the Warden won't let us be in a room alone with him." Chuck calmed after Shaw was dragged out and apologized to Casey who merely shrugged. An hour later behind some thick Plexiglas Daniel Shaw was seated across from the two.

"That was pretty good; I didn't even see you flash."

"That's because I didn't. For once just make this easy. Has Sarah come by to see you after 'the baby'?"

"Well, who wants to know?" Chuck rose quickly and drew his fist back and Shaw initially flinched before he cackled, "Give me a moment somebody thought bouncing my head is a way to trigger my memory returning." That brought Casey out of his chair with a growl. Shaw surmised the scene and gave a toothy smile, "You know I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd seen her. I mean I recall taking her to my apartment where she pointed out my copy of the Kama Sutra."

Casey made a move to sit down before stopping and said, "He's only teasing, he doesn't know dick."

"Au contraire Casey, now that he's back in GenPop he's quite familiar with dick."

Shaw spit at the barrier separating them, "You think I'm going to tell you anything now."

"No, you already did, come on Casey you were right."

"You are pathetic; still chasing her after how many years. I mean she married you and still ran off. Thanks for stopping by though, just the knowledge you two aren't together will brighten each day of the rest of my life. TTFN."

Casey made a step towards the door before noticing the face-off between Chuck and Shaw. Chuck's eyes briefly went to the trail of Shaw's spit before turning back to him with a malicious grin suddenly making Shaw nervous. Moments later when Chuck's hand crashed through the barrier and grabbing Shaw by the throat, Shaw could only whimper as Chuck whispered to him, "Ta ta for now is appropriate, we will see each other one more time and for your sake you'd better hope Sarah is with me, otherwise well, I'll wait until that moment to divulge my plot to you. Mua ha ha."

"You didn't flash… How did you… you didn't flash."

"Be afraid Daniel, be very afraid." Chuck turned and left without looking back, leaving a stunned Casey and a sniveling Shaw behind. Their ride to the airport was silent, neither were used to failing on a mission especially when the stakes were this high. After going past the security checkpoint they both stood by one another knowing their terminals were on the opposite sides of the airport. Chuck spotted a makeshift sports bar and tapped Casey's shoulder and turned his head to the establishment; hearing a grunt of approval they both sat down and ordered a double of whatever decent whiskey they had.

"On a number of skills I don't have to flash anymore, my muscle memory is enough, but I have to maintain the training or it fades. The difference is I can reflash and get it back." Chuck quietly stated.

"I feel like shit."

"Casey, it's ok…"

"No, it's not. Kid nobody knows what the two of you went through more than me. I got to witness it from the nauseating start and now I completely miss that sensation. We put ourselves on a rough time frame and although it doesn't seem so now, I guarantee when we look at it again we will find something we overlooked. Tell Ellie congratulations she deserves it." Casey slammed the rest of his drink.

"I'm tired of being mad at her."

"Sarah?"

"No, Ellie I mean I know I'm the one that did it, but looking back I don't…"

"Chuck, up until that point whose advice and suggestions were almost always the best?"

"Ellie."

"Who is the second most person you trust?"

"Ellie."

"It may have been in the way she explained it, because I was pissed when I heard about what happened at the beach and after yelling at you I called her and after listening it from her end it began to make some sense, but the more time passes it just seems so different than her other advice. Sadly nobody's perfect, but we will find her. Right? Eyes up soldier!"

Chuck lifted his head to the retired Colonel and saluted, punctuating it with a "Yes, sir," with a wink to show outer strength, when inside he was beginning to crumble.

Casey gave him a once over and placed his hand on Chuck's shoulder squeezing it and repeating, "We will find her. Now get a move on you've got a plane to catch."

"Sir… Sir… I'm sorry you fell asleep. The plane has landed in Chicago. Are you ok?"

Chuck looked up at the flight attendant: brunette with brown eyes and a kind smile. Sarah would hate her on sight and the floodgates opened, "I'm sorry my wife is missing and I just spent the last few weeks looking for her. "

The shock on the attendant's face had not faded when she asked, "Is there somebody here for you?"

"What?"

"Is somebody picking you up or are you… I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry I just didn't think you were in condition to drive."

"My brother-in-law should be here to pick me up."

"Do you want us to page him?"

"No, no I'm fine… I don't mean to be a burden… I'll be off in a second."

"It isn't a problem, unless you had a carry-on?"

"No, why?"

"All the overheads are empty, if you had checked baggage they will be on carousel six. Are you sure you don't want me to page him?"

"No, I'm sure Devon will be there."

"Ok, I hope you find her."

Chuck simply nodded as he rushed off the plane, not paying attention it took him twenty minutes to get to the luggage area and carousel six was empty. Sighing loudly he looked around and the few people milling about he did not recognize from his flight. Turning around he saw a small area roped off and of the eight items there he recognized his two. Running over he checked his claim tickets and matched them with his luggage. He tentatively grabbed them and feeling completely exhausted sat down on a nearby bench. The top of his head began to tilt down and before his chin hit his chest he was completely out,

Devon stepped inside the airport quickly looking for his brother-in-law and despite the assurance that if he were to come out with a person in five minutes he wouldn't get a ticket he was nervous. Having been to the airport enough times that phrase was also code for having your car towed. Seeing Chuck slumped on a bench made the worry about his car go away… for the most part. Going over to him and checking his pulse and his breathing pattern told him he was asleep. The tormented look on his face convinced him to do his best not to wake him up. Carefully slinging Chuck over his shoulder told Devon two things immediately; Chuck had put on at least twenty pounds of muscle, if not more, and he needed to up his strength training.

Coming out he was pleasantly surprised to find his car still there and without a ticket. Due to Chuck's height getting him into the car wasn't particularly easy, but he slept right through it. Going back for his luggage was easier and as he started home he again felt torn about waking him or not, but decided to leave it up to Chuck. If he didn't wake up he would take him home, if he did…

Chuck was still completely out when he pulled into the driveway. Thankfully Clara was asleep as well making the trek to the guest room easier. He placed Chuck on the bed but before getting his luggage he grabbed a post-it, wrote something on it and placed it in his pocket. He then placed the luggage in the room and leaned over and said, "Get a good night sleep, bro you are going to need it."

Devon went into the kitchen and downed a glass of juice to try and calm himself down. Seeing the light peering out from under the doorway made him cringe. After taking and releasing a deep cleansing breath he opened the door.

"Hey Babe. Chuck was exhausted from the flight and went straight to bed. How much more do you have to do?"

"Ooh, I want to go over my speech and then there are two proposals. Thankfully I only have a small item to take care of at the hospital in the afternoon. Why are you grabbing your pillow?"

"I was just going to crash on the couch I'm covering for Simmons in the morning and since you are already established here. I want to get a few hours in, then maybe a power nap in the afternoon before the ceremony."

"Ok, love you" Ellie stated making an air kissing gesture.

Devon walked over and kissed the top of her head, "I love you too, Babe."

As Devon lay down on the couch he silently prayed that everything would be explained tomorrow.

_**A/N: The torture continues, at least I got him to Chicago. Neither the analyst nor the attendant are coming into play so I chose not to give them names. Guess it is time for the rubber to meet the road. Thanks for reading and also to those who review.**_

_**A/N2: I apologize for not proofing this before posting as there are a number of words and even a sentence or two that got shanghaied while uploading this. I also did some post-posting editing to help clarify some things. For those confused especially in the beginning part of the chapter I am sorry. **_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: One thing, Chuck is mentally and physically exhausted, not drunk at the end of the last chapter. I just wanted that out there. Also if you read the previous chapter up to about six hours after it was posted I hadn't proofed it and there were a number of things that were changed to make it more understandable and flow better. …and here we go. **_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 6: **

Initially the abject terror kept Chuck from opening his eyes. The last thing he vaguely recalls is talking to a flight attendant. Laying on a comfortable bed completely unaware of where he was terrified him. Two items began to relax him, he was wearing clothes and the weight that was on his chest began to move in a way that was completely recognizable. Soon he felt two tiny hands on his cheeks, so he inflated them and the hands tried to push them in, but was unsuccessful. Sensing the hands were going to have some added momentum on her next attempt, he blew out the air opening his eyes wide finding his niece squealing with delight.

"Unca wake."

"Yes…"

"Unca wake unca play." Clara grabbed two of Chuck's fingers and attempted to drag him off the bed. He allowed the little dynamo to pull him up, but Chuck soon wrapped her in his arms and got off the bed. Ignoring the soft giggle and ahh sound from the doorway as Clara had migrated herself up Chuck and placed her head in a familiar spot. The spot that convinced Chuck that Sarah actually needed him. In that spot she always completely relaxed, yielding control and relying on Chuck to protect her from any demons lurking in the night. Chuck started to feel himself crumble a little and brought them both down releasing Clara to the floor while he was crouching beside her.

"Uncle Chuck needs to get cleaned up then maybe we can have some breakfast and get in some play."

"Unca miss bweck fist. Unca play."

"Clara, you got to wake him up, come on little girl. We'll give him some time and you can help make him his breakfast." The little girl ran with perfect balance into her mother's waiting arms. The delight on her face changed to maternal concern as she looked over her brother.

"Chuck, please don't say you were doing security protocol inserts in Europe for the past two to three weeks. Emma didn't believe it either… Please tell me if they dragged you back in."

"Ell, you know what I was doing. I need to find her, at the very least to give her the closure that she deserves."

Ellie stiffly nodded at that and embraced Chuck in an awkward hug that both noticed, but said nothing. Releasing each other she finally spoke, "Ok, I guess it's going to be pancakes for you then. Is that ok?" The last part was pointed at Clara who aggressively nodded her head bringing some mirth back into the room. Looking back to her brother, "Did you have plans this afternoon? Woody is picking up Clara at noon and they get to have her for the night."

"Ell, you didn't invite them?"

"Of course I did. I thought this would have showed to them I am… That I fit with... They said there was a conference that they were committed to and that got canceled just after the event sold out."

"Sis, they respect you, has a Woodcomb ever received this award?"

"I don't know, I start to drift when they rattle off their accomplishments."

"It doesn't matter either way; if they have you should be more ingrained, if they haven't you've given them something to shoot for. I am so proud of you." Chuck could see a momentary look of worry before he received the prototypical Ellie hug.

"As far as plans, I know Devon was hoping to take me out for some pizza, and I need to thank him. I fell asleep on the plane and accept for a few moments have little recollection after leaving the plane. What time is it?"

"Almost 10:30, we'll get started on the pancakes, come down as soon as you're ready?" Ellie and Clara left Chuck as he was gathering his toiletries, but was able to hear the ear-bending squeal after a murmured, 'yes you can have one pancake'. The thought of knowing exactly where Clara got that from brought a smile as Chuck went to his pocket for his phone and finding a post-it attached.

_"Bro, in Casey talk get your 3 'Sh's" done and come down to the hospital pronto."_

Losing the adrenaline rush from seeing Clara and despite the amount of sleep he just had Chuck was still exhausted. It took a minute to realize shave, shower, and go to the bathroom were the items he was referring to. While he was accomplishing those tasks he wondered if Casey had called during his layover to let Devon know they were at the point to investigate further his glimpse of blonde hair and a familiar sounding 'ow' in the ER as he was going through rounds with a number of first year residents almost twenty months ago. Chuck understood why Devon only told Casey as after quickly passing off the residents he was unable to find any record of this mystery patient. It didn't even register as a needle, but Chuck was at the point where he would grasp at whatever was in any haystack as the heated water began to rejuvenate his body.

The thought he must have looked awful before became evident as Ellie smiled with a look of relief hugging him again before he sat down. He quickly ate and made sure he got in some playtime with Clara up to the point where the in-laws came by to pick her up. Chuck asked what Ellie was up to before the ceremony and she told him there were two meetings and then there was something at the hospital she needed to do. Also that Devon had called and asked if Chuck could bring his suit as there was something he wanted to show Chuck, but there wouldn't be time to make it back to the house before the ceremony. Chuck ran and grabbed his and Awesome's garment bag and Ellie dropped him off at the hospital. Chuck made it to Devon's office and only had to wait a minute before a somewhat flushed Devon Woodcomb barged through the door.

"Thank God. Come on!" Devon grabbed Chuck's arm dragging him into the hallway

"Wait Devon what is going on?" Chuck asked as they pulled up to a door marked 'STAIRS'.

"Bro, you just need to follow me and after we leave the stairs I need you to be quiet." Devon swiped his ID over a panel by the door and heard a metallic click and they quickly bounded three flights of stairs. Devon gave them both a moment to slow their breathing before he swiped his ID again and carefully opened the door. Looking around and seeing nobody he approached another door. Chuck saw Devon reach into his pocket and pulled out another card. Placing that card to the panel on the wall and not his ID the door soon swung open. Devon darted in and swiped that same card again on the first door to the left. Once it opened Chuck followed Devon inside trying to figure out what he wanted to show him and almost on cue he hears a voice.

"Day 564; things are calm for once…" Chuck tried to think, but he couldn't. Hearing his angel's voice froze him, he looked to Devon just to confirm he wasn't imagining this and the redness surrounding his eyes made Chuck know the voice was real, "I love Chuck Bartowski and I don't know what to do about it."

Chuck collapsed on the floor; still conscious, but his eyes began to dart all over the room, trying to determine where the sounds were coming from. Devon tried talking to Chuck although he was unresponsive to him, but not to Sarah's voice. Devon lifted Chuck up and let go when he acknowledged Devon. Devon grabbed his shoulders and led him to the bed.

Chuck turned to Devon and asked with his eyes if this was real. Devon nodded and said, "Yes, I found her yesterday. I wanted to bring you here after picking you up, but…" Devon hung his head thinking he had made the wrong choice, but to his surprise he received a Bartowski hug before turning to Sarah lying peacefully on the bed. Torn between treating her as a China doll and a security blanket he ghosted his hands over her face when he noticed that her head was shaved. Without missing a beat he caressed her lips with his.

"I have so much to apologize for, but there's only one thing that I care about and that is you being all right. There are so many people who need you to be all right; especially your mother and sister. Even if you can't forgive me please fight for them. I…" Chuck eyes focused on the scars on the top of her head in various stages of recovery before the liquid impacted his focus, "I love you so much, I replay the beach every day and it haunts me at night. Causing you that pain and ignoring my promise from our wedding day. Please be ok." Chuck had interlaced his fingers with Sarah's closest hand while he was talking and discovering a chair was placed behind him he sat down kissing the still hand before placing his forehead on top and settling in that position repeating softly, "You are my life, please wake up."

Devon wanted to give as much space as he could quickly found a chair by the door and placed it behind Chuck. He also noted this room was roughly half the size of the other rooms in this ward. Not knowing what to say he instinctively went to her chart. This was also a major difference; all the other rooms had a computer in them recording all the biometrics and allowing the doctor(s) and nurses to chart immediately. Here the chart was pen and paper and the machines also had more of a 20th Century feel. Before opening the chart he took a look at the couple trying to come up with anything to explain why they had to always have such insurmountable things thrown at them. He tried to swallow back the anger knowing it would not help the situation. Grasping the cover he whispered a silent prayer hoping he could find some of the answers to the questions both he and Chuck had.

The room was relatively quiet for about an hour as Chuck maintained his vigil and Devon pored over the reports thinking some of it read more like science fiction than medicine. Lifting his eyes from the papers he took another look at his brother and sister. He quickly realized there was only one person who could answer the questions and unsure how he would react, he had no idea what it would do to Chuck. This kept popping up preventing him from going any further in the chart, so he set it down releasing a sigh as he did.

Chuck had remained still, but his eyes would dart around the room on spy instinct to note any changes. Right now they were focused on Devon who had his head down and hands gripped at the foot of Sarah's bed. Knowing his brother is going to give him all the time he needs and he will have to make the first move to find out what was in that folder and just where and how Devon found Sarah. He refocused to his sleeping beauty and hoped she was in as much peace as she appeared. Still looking at Sarah's face he brought his head up trying to decide if he could lay his head on her stomach. Not wanting to risk anything he kissed her hand before letting go and whispering, "I'm not going anywhere." As he brought up the side rail and laid his head on that while regaining the contact that was as essential to his life as breathing.

Without turning to look at him, Chuck in a broken voice asked, "Where do you want to start?"

"Has John told you about the call I made to him?"

"Yes."

"I am so sorry… I should have just left the residents immediately, when I came back a few minutes later I thought I must have imagined it, but I called Casey anyways just in case. I didn't want to get your hopes up…"

Chuck turned to Devon needing to look him in the eyes as he stated, "Devon… Bro, look at me; positively identifying somebody from 'ow' is impossible. There is no reason for you to feel any guilt, especially as I am so grateful for you finding her. You made the right call in letting me get some sleep last night. I was completely exhausted; if you brought me here last night my reaction… there would be anger. Although there are answers I need which are assuredly going to test my resolve." Chuck turned back to face Sarah, "I'm going to try and be calm… be your Chuck. Why wouldn't her doctor have contacted me?"

In a subdued tone, "Her doctor is Ellie."

_**A/N: There were a few places I could have ended this chapter earlier, but there will be one more chapter before the ending(s). Many thanks to those who pointed out that the previous chapter needed to be looked at. Also thanks to those who simply read this and review. **_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Chapter 7**

"But…"

"This is her ward. I'm sure you also noticed it has its own security level as well. Last night she had forgotten something for Clara in the break room refrigerator and called me to pick it up on my way out. Since the only room here I've been in was her office I asked where that was and she said when I entered go to the first door on the left. I guess she forgot she gave me this card and that it saves me five minutes to go the way we just did."

"That doesn't sound like her."

"Honestly, yesterday was my first trek up here in about six months. The day after she was informed she was a finalist; we both know how she would take it."

"Set her jaw and work until she dropped."

"Exactly; so before my shift in the afternoon I made a basket of the bath items she likes and then stopped at this local bakery that makes the best pecan pie. Armed with that and a 'Congratulations!' balloon I went up to her office and unfortunately I should have been in stealth mode. As the staff followed me into her office she looked up at me with a thin smile and said, 'Honey, you shouldn't have.' and then looked away."

"Oh boy."

"The staff gave a small round of applause before going back to work and she got up and closed the door and whispered, 'Why was I trying to embarrass her?' I told her I wanted to show her how awesome she was, which didn't go over well and she said she had to go back to work and since my parents were coming over she would probably be late."

"Your parents do like her don't they?"

"Yes, from that night though they may love her more than me. I was just putting Clara to bed and my parents were gathering up the pieces of the puzzle she was working on when Ellie came in the door with the basket and balloon along with a pout and squinted eyes."

"Her 'I have to apologize even though I don't want to' face?"

"Yes, anyways my dad went over and hugged her and my mom told her that she was a finalist once, but did not receive the award. She added that she knew Ellie would get it though and that is when I walked in. My dad looked at the basket and said it was nice of your support staff to do this. When Ellie said that I had given it, my parents looked at me like I was an idiot. 'She is working on important things and doesn't need the extra distraction' was what they said before hugging her again and leaving. Just as we were climbing into bed she said, 'It's ok, you don't need to apologize,' and I laughed before I realized she was serious. That steamed me and it lasted through the next morning; instead of making her breakfast I left a petulant note saying I didn't make breakfast for her as she could view it as an apology or somehow serve as a distraction that she and my parents understand, but I only see as doing something to show appreciation for my wife."

"Was this a create an apology scenario?"

"My brother didn't have a name for it when he told me about it, but that does sum it up. So you had to…."

"Yes, when you have a passionate, willful, and lethal wife with a mind like a steel trap; she would still bring up specific times when I didn't follow her orders when I was her asset." Chuck grimaced as what he said registered in his mind and looked back to his wife. With his free hand he caressed her face before leaning over trying to will her awake by lightly peppering her with soft kisses although his sobbing increased in between them until he let out a wail.

Devon was conflicted being in the room as he turned away from the two; knowing he was intruding on such a personal moment. Initially he was going to caution Chuck on making noise, but Chuck had every right to be here. 'Here' Devon thought; why would Ellie keep Sarah here and not in a 'normal' room. The immediate answers were troubling at best. He quickly lifted up Sarah's chart once again paying attention to the entry dates and times and not liking the gaps. Devon noticed the room was quiet with only the machines making noise; he looked up from the chart to see Chuck staring at him.

"Why?"

Devon was a little confused trying to figure out which one of the hundred why's Chuck could be referring to. Recognizing the innocent and wounded face from when he was licking his wounds from Stanford, he soon realized he probably would not be able to answer the questions here either.

"I'm sorry Chuck. I need a little more… unless you were speaking rhetorically?"

"Why are you looking at her chart again?" came out in a monotone fashion.

"I was trying to find how many people check on Sarah."

"Because they have her in a glorified closet."

Sensing the fury beginning to build in Chuck Devon tried to think of a way to diffuse it. Knowing any answer, no matter how eloquent, was merely delaying the probable decimation of the strongest relationship he had ever witnessed. However he would do his best to keep Chuck calm as he prayed Ellie had something to explain this situation.

"Partially, also to see if there was somebody we can talk to and get the answers that aren't in here."

"And?"

"Only Ellie and one nurse a Zon… I'm trying to read her name."

"Zondra?"

"Sarah's bridesmaid? I don't think so, it looks like Zonia. I won't put anything past Sarah or her friends, but unless Zondra is an Operating Nurse I doubt it is her."

The answer seemed to deflate Chuck a little as he realized who had the answers he needed and quiet overtook the room once more. Fifteen minutes passed and the only movement was Devon going to the head of the bed and doing a cursory inspection for any beginnings of bed sores. Finding none; Devon was at least satisfied that they had to be checking on her more often than they charted. He had one hand on each of their shoulders acting as a conduit to give Sarah the energy from both of them to help her wake.

The low buzz went unnoticed by them, but the click of heels against the tile floor caused Devon to look up and Chuck feeling his shoulder squeezed brought his attention away from Sarah; first looking to Devon and following his stare he soon saw the wide eyes of his sister.

"How did you get here?" Her tone was shrill and not with the surprise that both were somewhat expecting.

"When you asked me to come up here yesterday and take the first door on the left, I came in here. I would have brought Chuck here last night, but he was in no shape to find this."

"Devon… I… Chuck…" Ellie paused, placing one hand on her hip while the other she brought to her face massaging her temples with her thumb and ring finger. Her long exhale hitched slightly before she began to speak.

"She has been here for quite some time. After leaving LA she went to DC. I guess things didn't work out there and she started making her way West visiting clinics and people who were specializing in memory recognition and severe brain trauma. According to the notes from the initial interview the places she saw before here were either quacks or balked at the mere mention of the CIA. She gave a false name to get herself in the door here and appeared to be a perfect candidate as the nurse who conducted the interview rushed to my office with the info. I was pleased until I opened the door and saw Agent Walker sitting in the chair. I immediately asked her to leave, but she began to cry saying I was the only one who could possibly help. I almost caved when she meekly said 'please' and then nothing else, later watching the tape of the interview if I had turned around I would have let her stay right then. My nurse was looking at her and while obeying my order of escorting her out after she had calmed; she also gave her my card and said she would ask me to reconsider soon."

Ellie stopped for a second trying to decipher the looks she was getting from the two men of her life. Deciding she should continue before they began to ask questions, "About fifteen minutes later the nurse came back to me asking if there was something she had missed. I informed her I knew the candidate personally and then the nurse backed off, going back to her duties. After leaving, Agent Walker wandered around trying to decide whether to leave for the next place in Kansas City or talk to you."

Chuck looked away momentarily from Sarah to see whom Ellie was referring to and with her look focused on Devon, Chuck felt another pang in his heart revisiting the things he said and what he should have said at the beach.

"She found herself in front of the Art Institute and thought at the very least, it would offer her a quiet place to contemplate her next step. She found a bench and sat down, but soon started to cry once more. Armed with the knowledge of her reports she decided that she needed to handle this herself and strained; searching her mind trying to fill in what was left out of the reports. She did not know how long she had tried, but at one point felt a searing pain in her head and was unconscious. Our hospital being the closest is where the ambulance took her. In the ER the attending found my card in her pocket and they paged me. As they were rehydrating her I read the preliminary report from the EMT's and talked to the policeman who was first on the scene, but what convinced me to bring her in was the look in her eyes when she woke up."

Ellie seemingly was waiting for them to guess what she saw in Sarah's eyes. Chuck was still trying to absorb everything and although he was paying attention to everything said, guessing games were beyond him. After thirty seconds of Devon staring at his wife to continue, "Damnit Ellie, this isn't some dramatic retelling of a story. This is about the lives of two of the most important people in your life!"

The swagger completely disappeared for a moment and Ellie bit the corner of her bottom lip before she continued, softly at first, but as she went on the tone reverted to what it had been: commanding, but with slight hints of both arrogance and contempt. "Fear and helplessness were what I saw. I had never seen either in them before so I decided to overlook what happened and try to help her. There were some ground rules; the first was not contacting Chuck while she was here unless it worked." Fully expecting the glare from her younger brother and getting it she simply continued, "She agreed without the slightest hesitation. She wanted to be whole before going back to you. Next there were a number of privacy and disclosure forms so that she could be included in any future published works; we both agreed she would be referred to as Patient Y. The last item she agreed to but was more reticent in that she would refer to me as Doctor Woodcombe or simply Doctor and I would call her Miss Walker. I had to repeat it before she nodded and said 'yes doctor.' As she was signing the forms I contacted a nurse to set up her room."

Seeing that both were going to ask if this has always been her room and not wanting that brought up yet she quickly continued, "She wanted to go up to the room on her own, but because they placed an IV in she had to be brought up by gurney or chair. She chose the chair and the transport person forgot to unclip her finished bag, they began to go and ripped out her line. I quickly stepped in and brought her up as the person was scared to possibly be alone in the elevator with her. We ran a full battery of CT, MRI, MRS, and PET scans, sleep and stress studies, dexterity and motor tests; they did show an area that in laymen's terms was burnt out. The only area that was affected was her memory, unfortunately without knowing exactly what he used to cause this made reversing it problematic. Instead we decided the way to go forward was leaning towards aiding the brain in healing itself. Another item that cropped up was that the device he used to suppress her Intersect was different than the one used on Morgan. We were able to create a flash which was a great practical benefit to see how the brain works during a flash. The problem was that it was extremely painful and she was barely functional the rest of the day. Getting a hold of the suppression glasses that was used on Chuck and Hartley required me to make a small deal with a Director Bentley. She gave me the suppression glasses and a donation was given to renovate the ward and add in the extra security in exchange for sharing what I've come up with in five years, unless I make the breakthrough earlier and of course exclusivity in dealing with her or a person designated by the President. Just to be sure of our findings we had her flash a few more times and then suppressed it successfully. We weren't able to generate a flash and it seemed to accelerate the healing process."

This delay for a breath had both Chuck and Devon wanting to jump in with questions, but Chuck got his out first.

"Ell, did you give me that advice to drive Sarah away, so you could do this research?"

"No, I told you I turned her away here at first."

"I noticed you didn't address the first part; so why did you want me to drive her away?"

"Chuck."

"No Ellie, tell me what happened to change your mind about her in one day. The night at the symphony you were gung ho about helping her and even when helping you pack you seemed to still be in the 'go after her' mode. After talking with Morgan you gave me that advice and it was my fault for following it… Why?" Chuck's voice cracking at the end of it brought out the caring, maternal visage both the men were accustomed to seeing on Ellie.

Ellie sighed, "I got a phone call."

"From?"

"The body shop working on my car informing me about the bullet they dug out."

_**A/N: Did not think there was anything to address at the beginning of the chapter, so I just jumped in. For those that have looked at my profile page this statement will make sense that I have taken this as far as I can before the endings. A change is that there will only be two. They will be clearly marked so if there is one you choose not to read you can skip it. **_


	8. Ending: Charah

_**A/N: This is the ending I am expecting most people to prefer. Thanks for reading.**_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Ending: Charah**

"Wh-What?"

"The bullet went through the glove box and lodged into the firewall. I think I would have noticed it before."

"But Sarah had the safety on."

"How do you know?"

"She had it on at the café, but she maintained enough distance so that if I had tried something there was enough time to flip it and if Pulp Fiction taught us anything, you always have the safety on in a moving car. At least that's the excuse I tell myself about Mom not having it on because she didn't see the movie."

"Well then explain the bullet… Mom did what?"

"When you began to drive erratically, Sarah probably took it off because she would believe that you saw it was on and she needed to reassert her threat. For the bullet there are two reasons I can think of off-hand; first if you were to die I'd have been gone along with the Intersect and she would have failed her mission so sensing the inevitability of the collision she would have aimed the gun away from you as much as possible. The other reason could be she was trying to shoot out the air bag; with your seat belt on you are stunned for a few seconds, without it you can be out for a while. As far as Mom when she first came back and shot me in the chest I was leery about getting into a car with her so she pulled a gun and kept it on me until I pointed out a pothole would make an unpleasant end."

Ellie's command dipped slightly at that, but a singular knock on the door startled everybody in the room including the nurse who had simply entered without invitation, "Doctor Woodcombe… oh, both 's and… The preparations are complete and the window appears to be sixty to seventy-five minutes." The nurse just as quickly turned around and left.

Ellie not wanting to relent on being in control of the conversation decided to answer some of the easier questions she figured her brother and husband formulated. "When she made her way here, she happened to come in when we were signing up people for a study on early onset Parkinson's; in conjunction with the Pasteur Institute and a group of biogenesists from Oslo. The French were working on finding a test to diagnose and the Swedes had made some strides in regenerating brain tissue. I brought them together and was hoping to incorporate some of the Intersect technology to use in traumatic brain injuries and diseases."

"But does Sarah suffer from Parkinson's?"

"No, it would probably be closer to Alzheimer's; however it was the way we were able to get her in to treat her so she officially is considered a part of the study, but the protocols was completely different for her."

"What is happening within sixty minutes?" Chuck asked forcefully.

"A treatment; I mentioned the scientists from Oslo… the area affecting her memory was no longer capable of synaptic conduction." At Chuck's confused look, "Like a disc read error; the problem was the flashes and the times where she was dehydrated were destroying more of her brain tissue. These results were obviously having a negative effect, so I began to use the results from Oslo and extrapolate them from the rats they were using to humans. Weighing other contemporary options to this she agreed immediately with the experimental and actually helped in the research to see if we could possibly combine the regeneration with the Intersect. There were a few trials to determine the ratio what worked on the rats to human, also how far along the degradation of the tissue affects the regeneration, and how much time before it can accept the formation of neural pathways. We did accelerate the studies, but were extremely careful before proceeding. I wouldn't have gone forward unless I was sure about everything."

Ellie did pause at this and looked around the room slightly concerned that neither Chuck nor Devon chose to interject anything. "We ran a number of simulations and this was our research room and we both decided this would be the best place to allow her to recover and only be interrupted by myself and my nurse…"

"Zorica Shuma, niece of Director Bentley; she is not an agent, or an asset. Why would they even have her in the Inter…? Ellie, that night I did what I had to, to save everybody's lives. Any questions you have will have to wait besides nobody else can know that there is still a living Intersect. So there won't be any studies. Continue." Chuck ended that in his Carmichael tone and left both Doctor Woodcombes stunned.

Ellie had a scowl, but continued her story, "The procedure went flawlessly and we kept her in an induced coma for forty-eight hours just in case the regenerative process was painful. The scans showed great improvement and when we woke her up there was a lot of optimism and she did remember a little more each day for the next two weeks; then the headaches began." She paused to take a breath knowing that this was going to be difficult for her brother.

"They did not start off badly, but I doubt she ever readily admitted to feeling pain. Not wanting to create any reaction to pharmaceuticals we tried to use alternative methods. They seemed to abate the pain, but her nose began to bleed and we ran another set of scans and they revealed the thing I had feared the worst." Ellie stopped as she struggled with how to continue.

"The tissue regenerated into a tumor." Devon croaked out and with Ellie's nod Chuck turned and lightly pressed as much of himself on Sarah as possible,

Ellie gave Chuck a few moments, but he didn't seem willing to leave the position he was in; so she cleared her throat, "Sorry, but there is a time frame I am dealing with here. We tracked the tumor and decided on surgery over localized radiation. Going in though we found it was more pervasive then the scans showed. I went back through our research and determined that we needed to proceed more slowly. What we did at first was like that Venus Flytrap garden you wanted to have after watching 'Little Shop of Horrors'."

Chuck responded after clearing his throat, "I over fertilized and got all weeds, how can that correlate with Sarah's brain?" After a moment he answered his own question and he understood why there were the multiple scars on her head and what the treatments were. "How many more treatments are there?"

"Her brain is almost fully reformed; in fact there may not be another treatment necessary. The main problem is she hasn't woken up, but for all practical purposes everything points to her being capable of being up, but she hasn't. The procedure takes about fifteen minutes." She looked back towards a counter that had a file on it when before it was empty. Ellie flipped through the file and her scowl deepened. Closing it she sighed and moved closer to the bed. "There is no need for another procedure; the anesthetic given her will dissipate within forty minutes or so."

There was a quiet for a few minutes before Chuck said, "And then what?"

Ellie's cool façade dropped and softly said, "Wait."

Chuck nodded and went back to look lovingly at his wife. However the tranquility that appeared to be the way the anesthesia countdown was going to proceed was abruptly interrupted as he leaned over and whispered something into Sarah's ear before leaning back and turning towards his sister. Ellie had never seen such coldness in Chuck's eyes before and it startled her as he left the bed and walked them to the door as far from Sarah as possible.

"Why didn't you tell me?" was whispered, laced with equal parts anger and anguish. Ellie contorted her face while she was coming up with her answer. "No bullshit, just tell me." Even in a hushed tone the vehemence was obvious.

Ellie, now wide-eyed blurted out, "No matter what I would have said you would have come running and there is nothing that you could have done except potentially cause problems."

Chuck shaking with rage at that answer grabbed the collar of her lab coat with both his hands and lifted her off the ground.

"Chuck, please put her down. I can only imagine what you're feeling, but this isn't helping. Let's get some juice or we can run in the stairwell to burn off this energy, bro?"

Chuck looked down and sighed as he returned his sister to the ground and without a word opened the door and walked out. Devon quickly ascertaining his wife was shaken up, but at least physically fine followed after Chuck finding him at the door to the stairwell.

"Do you want or need me to run with you?" Chuck shook his head, "Well I'll do it for the first one and we'll see how it goes from there." They headed to the top of the hospital and both maintained a similar pace which was quite fast.

Neither said anything until they had made it down to the basement and were starting to go back up and again Chuck asked, "Why?"

They started up again and the pace was a little slower, but still was impressive as Devon shrugged and said, "Chuck there are so many answers let alone questions that can go with that, but I will concentrate on our 'track'. Nobody uses it as they are going about converting this into a service elevator shaft, so you can go all out. I'll stop on the floor and let you know when it's time if you're still going."

"Thanks, Devon." Chuck started sprinting and Devon was able to keep up, but stopped at Ellie's floor while Chuck kept on going, soon though the rage that was fueling his body gave way to the physical exhaustion from the past weeks, but especially the mental exhaustion of the past two years.

As much blame as he wanted to place at his sister's feet, he still knew the majority was on him and in a self-flagellation way he tried to punish himself maintaining a hard pace eventually zoning to where there was nothing but him and the stairs. Devon watched and despite being impressed with Chuck's stamina, he had figured Chuck would go five maybe ten 'laps', but he was nearing twenty and did not appear to be stopping anytime soon and from his lack of response on the last three passes he was probably going to have to physically stop him as it was time to head back. Devon braced himself as Chuck came up the stairs and crept forward giving him some momentum as he landed his shoulder in Chuck's solar plexus and stopping him.

The impact brought Chuck's attention back like an ALS ice bucket challenge. Although he did struggle to catch his breath from the run and collision he needed a moment. Luckily so for Devon as Chuck's instinctive response from the shock of the 'tackle' would have been a counterattack.

"Bro, I tried to tell you the past few times you've gone past, but it is time. Do you want to go freshen up a little before going back?"

Chuck appeared shell-shocked at that question taking almost thirty seconds before giving a quick shake of his head. With that Devon opened the stairwell door and they proceeded back into Ellie's ward and into Sarah's room stealthily without running into anyone.

Entering the room it appeared Ellie was finishing collecting Sarah's vital signs, but then whispered something into Sarah's ear. Chuck, who had been holding the door slightly open, released it allowing it to close and make enough of a noise to startle Ellie. Chuck looked at his sister's face and recognized it as the one he was most familiar with: kind and caring, however it was laced with regret as she turned towards the noise and stepped back as Chuck approached the bed.

His eyes showed exhaustion, coupled with the dark blue patches underneath them stilled Ellie for a moment as Chuck moved towards her rather than the bed. She took another cautious step away from him until he showed his lost puppy dog look. Ellie's maternal instinct kicked in and she slowly wrapped her arms around him.

"Sis, I am sorry… I'm still mad at you, but I should never have done that to scare you."

"Chuck," Ellie paused contemplating how she should respond, "You have a right to be angry at me. I have earned that. Can we talk about it later?"

Chuck simply nodded realizing just how much he had missed her, but forefront on his mind were the prayers that Sarah would awaken. Neither knew how much time had passed while in their hug, but Chuck felt the jolt when Ellie suddenly stiffened and pulled away from Chuck trying to turn him.

Chuck looked at Ellie with curiosity until his eyes found the bed and two beautiful, but heavily dazed azure eyes staring at him trying to determine if he is real.

"Uuckkk?" came out barely above a whisper, but Chuck was leaning over gently grasping her hands in his bringing them up to his cheeks. The proof that he was there made her break out into a big smile which only lasted shortly as Chuck could feel Sarah's fingers trying to wiggle.

Sarah's eyes showed desperation and Chuck quickly stated, "She's not paralyzed is she? Is it the anesthetic?"

"Chuck, Sarah is suffering from muscle atrophy. Hi Sarah, it's awesome to see you again. She's going to need rehab, but I cannot imagine her prognosis being anything less than a full recovery as long as she paces herself. One good thing for Sarah is she's going to be getting quite a few massages from the Chuckster."

Sarah's mind fixated on the word massages and she was able to recall a multitude of times when Chuck had given her one, feeling her cheeks redden as the eventual outcome from a number of them also came forth. Chuck noticed and tried to hold back the joy from bursting forth as that was a reaction his Sarah would have triggered by her memories.

Watching Chuck squirm didn't trigger any memories per se, but brought a knowing smile to her face and starting to feel drowsy managed a nod which was stopped when Chuck's lips merged into hers. The sensations initially confused her as her entire body tingled, but also felt completely relaxed. The fatigue completely disappeared and her brain began to fill in their kissing history. A few tears made their way out as she knew that she needed Chuck more than anything. Ending the kiss she could see Chuck's misted eyes telling her the exact same thing.

"Sarah, I am so sorry about what happened, I never should have let you leave the beach. I know I said it wasn't a vow, but it should have been. Please give me another chance… I love you. I wish I could think of something eloquent like you deserve, but the moment I got to see your gorgeous eyes staring back at me it's like I had been holding my breath the past two years. I am so sorry." The last sentence was barely audible between the sobs and Chuck kissing the palm of her hand just before lightly placing his head on her abdomen and continuing to cry.

The position Chuck was in left Sarah's hand on top of his head. As he started to regain his composure he felt Sarah's fingers lightly attempting to brush through his hair which caused him to look up at her as she whispered out, "Love you."

Chuck barely held on while watching his wife, "Mrs. Bartowski, your outward beauty is only dwarfed by your inner beauty," he smiled as he slid her wedding band, which he carried with him at all times hopeful for their reunion, back onto her ring finger which she accepted with her mega watt smile. Chuck could also tell she was fighting falling back asleep as hard as she could.

"Sarah, this isn't a dream. I will be right here beside you when you wake." He kissed her forehead and giggled as she pouted, "Don't worry I'm making my way down… Oh my gosh, you are most definitely my wife and you know that was not where I meant," in response to her eyebrow dance.

"Plus Devon and Ellie are… here." He finished after looking over the room and seeing the Woodcombe's had made themselves scarce he turned back to his angel. "They were here, but I'm sure they wanted to give us some time. Sarah, I'm just going to the door to see if they are right outside. I don't know if it is ok for you to fall back asleep, like a concussion." Chuck got up and kissed her. The fifth attempt to separate from Sarah proved to be successful as he cautiously opened the door with Devon leaned on the other side of the hallway. Seeing Chuck brought Devon over quickly.

"Chuck, is there a problem? Ellie went to look for an open private room assuming you are staying here." Devon quickly rattled out.

"Is it ok for Sarah to fall back asleep? She's fighting it, but…"

"Yes, she'll probably be groggy for the next twenty-four hours at least in combination with the medical coma drugs metabolizing, it wouldn't surprise me if she spent the majority of the next week sleeping."

"Thanks… Is it ok for me to make calls in her current room?"

Devon thought about it for a second, "I'm not sure, considering the security there is probably a lot of interference. How many bars are you getting?"

"Zero… damn."

"No problem when I go down to my office to change, I'll call Emma, Casey, and Alex, is there anybody else and how much do you want me to tell them on the phone?"

"Those would be the people, actually tell them all everything; probably easier to conference call it, but emphasize to Casey and Alex that both they and their partners need to remain at home for the time being as I will need them to help with the changes to make my place comfortable for Sarah. Emma, tell her she can just set the machine and come to Chicago asap with Molly."

"Got it, actually I should get to that now. Anything else you need?"

Chuck shook his head as the emotions were taking hold once more and softly closed the door. Worry started to cloud his face as he could see Sarah was asleep once more biting back the fear of how long it would be before his sleeping beauty would wake once more. Unable to resist the urge he delivered a feathery light kiss and Sarah's eyes popped open.

"I'm sorry Sarah… I know you need your rest and it is ok, there are a few things working through your body so I'm not supposed to worry," 'But I will' was clearly etched in his face and Sarah could easily read that and allowed her smile to grow in the comfort of having somebody to worry about her, something she never imagined for herself.

"I know you don't like surprises; so, don't worry about anything, I'm trying to ask if you remember about the mission you took us on to Hungary a few years ago." Sarah relaxed and tried to calm herself as forcing memories had the ominous task of being associated with searing pain. She took a deep breath and thought about Hungary and her initial mission with Ryker was there; but then came a floppy dog named Rex and watching Chuck play with… Molly. Seeing those two together put her in an ovulation period right then and she hatched her mission plan: she was going to gain back all her strength and then… well changing the then to while, she and Chuck would have sex as often as humanly possible so she could give that to him. Her smile of rememberance turned salacious at her plan which thoroughly confused Chuck as he gulped knowing what that smile entailed.

"Sarah, I missed you too, but I cannot imagine it being comfortable plus I'm sure limiting your excitement is something your doctor would recommend." Sarah playfully quirked her eyebrow and gave a skeptical look.

"Sass," Chuck shook his head and lightly laughed, "Ok, if that's the way you want to do this we'll go ahead and start with a level one move." Sarah tried to figure out what he was talking about as she could not recall anything like this. "Sarah, don't worry I've never declared this to you before, but after years of research devoted on Sarah Bartowski, sometimes painful… I'll start keeping track on the number of shoulder slugs I'm due when you're ready. Ok, got a baseline, this is a level one and I've got things categorized to level five."

Chuck gently took Sarah's arm and lifted it; he first kissed her palm and proceeded up her arm peppering kisses along with random French sayings. Sarah was a little nervous as she couldn't remember when he had done this to her before, but soon she was only registering the sensations Chuck's lips were making and thinking that if this was only the 'easiest', the level fives must have completely incapacitated her. Chuck stopped at her bicep looking at the machine and stopped knowing his point was made as his angel's pulse had increased enough and a bead of sweat appeared on her brow.

A few moments later Sarah opened her eyes with her 'why the hell did you stop' look, "Sarah your pulse went up enough and it took you the time for me to come back here with this (a dampened paper towel) before you knew I had stopped."

He placed the cool, damp towel on her forehead and was surprised at how good that felt. As he finished he asked, "So do you still doubt…" Chuck didn't bother finishing as Sarah both playfully and defiantly slowly nodded her head. "Well I can always just tickle you then."

Sarah went wide-eyed as she definitely remembered Chuck finding places she had sworn did not exist because she was not ticklish, but like so often he had proven her to be capable of so many things she never thought she could be. When her look softened Chuck simply kissed her temple.

"Let's find a more appropriate usage for your time awake."

"Mo-ll-y?"

"You remember?" Sarah nodded her head, "That is so great. Well the surprise is that hopefully both should be coming to visit you soon, hopefully tomorrow, but Molly's activity schedule is all jumbled in my head right now and I'm not one hundred percent sure what day this is."

From there he told her of his move to San Diego and his business. He described her mom's reaction regarding the beach and his hopes that Emma can truly forgive him now. He then spitballed some ideas about living area on the first floor of his place, as he described what was on the first floor she didn't want to lose any of it… well the gaming area she could live without, but it was a part of her Chuck and losing it wouldn't make enough room. So Sarah shook her head.

"What's wrong? You don't want to live in San Diego?" Head shake, "You don't want to live in the place I've gotten?" Head shake, "You don't want to live with me?" Enforcer glare. "What then, Sarah?"

"Why not second floor?" came out scratchy.

"I'm sure you would get tired of me carrying you up the stairs, although maybe Casey can get the Army Corps of Engineers to rig an elevator…" Chuck finished that thought, but noticed Sarah had squirmed her shoulders slightly at his talk of carrying her. "Sarah, would you mind me carrying you?"

"No… together"

"Ok, there are probably just a few things that need to be done to make it a presentable home for a couple instead of a hermit nerd."

"Tron poster stays." Sarah croaked out with a smile.

"Yes it does." Chuck wrapped her up in a hug. "You're still fighting falling back asleep, and I know it's going to be difficult for both of us to allow it, but your body needs this… We can watch a video of Molly's soccer game and I will be beside you when you wake up… every day for the rest of our lives."

This was a vow that he was able to keep.

_**A/N: I absolutely wanted to post both my endings at the same time, but the other one fell apart twice. For those completely Charah inclined this is the ending that you are going to be satisfied with. The other is darker and I'll leave it at that. I'm putting in a brief epilogue right after this. Thanks for reading.**_

**Epilogue**

**Crown Point, CA (just outside of San Diego) a few years later**

Ringing the doorbell and standing in front of the fire engine red door, Ellie wondered if this was how Sarah felt those initial times meeting her. In fact Sarah never said when she stopped feeling nervous… nevertheless despite both Sarah and Chuck saying there was nothing for her to be feeling guilty about, there were questions she was unsure of the answers and that disturbed her. Did she keep Sarah a secret to protect the project and her growing reputation in the field?

The door quickly opening to a bouncing blonde startled Ellie for a second, until a look of disappointment hit her face, "Sis, Aunt Ellie is here!" and the door closed. A tear formed in Ellie's eye as she tried to confirm that had just happened. Soon though the door reopened and another blonde, this one glowing answered the door and gave a crushing hug. 'A complete role reversal' Ellie thought as she quickly wrapped her arms around as much of Sarah as she could.

"Ellie, I'm so glad you made it… Molly, why did you slam the door in your Aunt's face?... Ell, I'm sorry about that, she's waiting for a b-o-y to take her to the park for a concert and then some ice cream after. It's her first date." Sarah said with enthusiasm.

"It is not a date, we're friends." Initially came from the couch, but Molly met the two women as they made their way into the living room. "I'm sorry Aunt Ellie," Molly said before they embraced one another and whispered, "I'm a little nervous, I don't know what Sis is going to say to him."

Ellie gave a little squeeze and whispered back, "I will try to keep them from the park as long as I can." Hearing Molly giggle they both released.

"Aunt Ellie I like your hugs a little better than my sister's, sometimes I can't breathe when she's locked on."

"We'll have to disagree about that, Mol and I have the cracked rib x-ray to prove it." Chuck's laughing voice came towards them from the bedrooms.

"My hero," Sarah exuberantly exclaimed bringing her husband into a kiss including Sarah lifting her leg from the ground as the kiss deepened. The other two looked at each other knowing they were still in perpetual honeymoon mode.

"Why are you here and not at your mom's?" Ellie inquired.

"She's in Florida playing golf with her beau. It was nice of her slavedriver of a boss to give her a week off," Sarah responded playfully while Chuck held his shocked expression long enough to know it didn't faze him.

As they all laughed the doorbell rang again and there was utter silence. "Should I get it?" Molly whispered nervously, but Chuck had already made his way to the door and opened it, he greeted the young man, then stepped outside making sure to wink at the three women before he closed the door. Molly was mortified and Ellie and Sarah couldn't help but laugh.

Molly started for the door, but Ellie stopped her saying that Chuck would not do anything to embarrass her… that much. Sarah had grabbed her phone and quickly punched up the audio from the porch.

"This is part of the Father's code, and although I am not her father I still think of her as my daughter…" All three women's eyes were tearing as Chuck earnestly told him what he expected for the date: foremost, treating her with respect. Sarah closed off the audio feed after that and told Molly to run some cold water on her face. She left and the two males entered the house, with Molly's 'suitor' not looking the worse for wear and Molly soon bounded into the foyer. The two teens met each other's eyes, smiled, blushed and turned away for a moment to the amusement of the adults. She soon grabbed his hand and led him out the door before a word was spoken by an adult.

"It's so quiet; where are Becky and Steve?" Ellie asked as Chuck joined the two women in the living room taking a chair while they were on the couch.

"Mom decided it was time once again to try swimming lessons. Becky was looking forward to it, but I think the best we can hope for Steve is that he'll keep the water wings on him and at least bob for a little while." Sarah delivered a quick backhand to Chuck's shoulder at the perceived slight to their baby boy.

Chuck feigned pain, but took notice Ellie looked relaxed in his and Sarah's company. Since that day, Ellie had been somewhat tense, especially when it was just the three or four when Devon was along. It was only noticeable to a few people; if you could measure Ellie as a force of nature on a scale of one to ten, taking a cue from Spinal Tap she had always been an eleven, now it was probably a seven and occasionally an eight. He wanted to have a little fun to see if his sister was back.

"Sarah, you know your child was trying to make his way into the air duct again this morning. I can hardly imagine whom he gets that from." Chuck winked at Ellie, who giggled while Sarah tried her glare, but couldn't hide the amusement in her eyes.

"Sarah, you haven't been having any more headaches, have you?" A hint of worry evident in Ellie's voice.

"No, the vitamin you recommended, along with making sure I'm never close to dehydrated. Is it true that you've gotten approval for the procedure?"

"Yes, although it is working well in many different cases, most though for severe brain trauma, but the Alzheimer's has run into a problem; the procedure is more of a stop gap, depending on the progression. After the procedure it works well, but only lasts around three to nine months. Also we are trying to figure out why after five treatments to a specific area it becomes not viable any longer."

Sarah wrapped Ellie in another hug, "Thank you for everything, Sis."

Ellie shook her head, but Sarah stated, "We need to talk, ok? Lunch should be ready in a few minutes." Sarah got off the couch with a little difficulty, but made her way to the kitchen without a problem.

Ellie stared at her brother for a moment, before he raised his arms and shook his hands, "Ok, turn it off. I've had no problems before or after the suppression. Sarah is telling the truth about headaches, there has been no sudden memory loss, and we all are making sure she is taking it easy right now. How are Devon, Clara, and Walter?"

Ellie let out a breath of relief, before stating, "You forgave me too quickly."

"What?"

"Many nights I find myself going over the 'what if's' and it frightens me. If Sarah had never woken up, I don't know if I would have told you. Chuck, I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Chuck did his best impression of an Ellie hug, "Thank you for apologizing."

Ellie was confused about that and as Chuck looked down to her crinkled brow he expanded his thought, "You've apologized to Sarah every time you've come across her until she asked you to stop last Christmas. You apologized to both of us a few times, mostly when that fourth glass of wine comes into play. This is the first time you've apologized to me, alone… I didn't know how much I needed to hear that…" The latter part coming out with Chuck choking back a sob.

Sarah stayed back as she had put the soup back on simmer and was going to ask if they wanted their usual accoutrements on their grilled cheese when she heard the end of the conversation and knew this was the cathartic moment both of them needed to reengage their relationship. With a contended smile she went into the refrigerator grabbed the assorted cheeses, two slices of bologna for Chuck, a tomato she'd slice into thick wedges for Ellie, and a burger patty and jar of pickles for her. '_At least my cravings for this one go with my favorite foods.'_ Sarah quickly and efficiently went about making all of the sandwiches, starting with hers as it had the longest cooking time and finished making the three almost simultaneously. Plating them and putting them on the table she then labeled out the tomato bisque with a hint of cilantro. By the time she turned to go tell the siblings lunch was ready she was squeezed on her side. It was tight, almost vice-like, but it was warm and comfortable and despite the amount of time that had passed since she last had one it was clear true Ellie Bartowski-Woodcombe hugs were unforgettable.

_**A/N: I took a one shot idea I had about Molly's first date and tried to turn it into my epilogue. It meandered, but got across pretty much what I wanted. Thanks for reading. I am working on the other ending, the next chapter on my other story, and also still my AU non-intersect Chuck story. I didn't go through this, but wanted to put it up so any major mistakes should be caught.**_


	9. Ending: Abomination

_**A/N: For those needing a happy ending or believing that Ellie is infallible you will not like this ending. That notwithstanding I do like the epilogue quite a bit. Thanks for reading and giving this ending a viewing. **_

**Chuck vs. Ellie**

**Ending: Abomination**

"Wh-What?"

"There was a bullet hole through the glove box and they found it lodged in the firewall."

"But, Sarah had the safety on." Ellie gave the look she would often show when a much younger Chuck would attempt to describe some comic book or movie plot that fascinated him. Chuck recognized this and continued, "At the café I chose not make a move because she could take off the safety and fire before getting to the both of you. Going into a car she wouldn't take the safety off. Her mission was to get the glasses and to eliminate me. You were her leverage if anything happened to you before getting them she would have failed again and that is something the best spy doesn't do."

"I knew it. You're taking her side, you would always take her side; even when putting you in situations you had no business being in, toying with your heart, even after you escaped with Dad you had to go back and he paid the price for her." The second surprise, other than the words themselves, were Ellie delivered them with barely a hint of emotion to her these were concrete facts.

"Ellie this has nothing to do with sides… I'm merely stating what I saw and trying to follow the likely steps of what happened before the crash, but blaming her for Dad. Once he understood she was family he was eager to help. Also do you honestly think they would have left you alone if I had just taken off with Dad? These people were taking over all the Government Intelligence Agencies. You, Devon, most likely both, and Morgan all would have been used to try and lure me out. You also made it abundantly clear how you felt about going into hiding right after that. So, if you are now saying you were wrong then that will be a first, but you weren't… then." Chuck had a semi-confused look trying to make sure that what he had said was correct.

Silence fell over the room as Chuck was waiting for the explosion from Hurricane Ellie, but hoping that what he said made her take notice that she was not acting quite like herself. A singular knock on the door startled everybody in there including the nurse who had simply entered without invitation, "Oh Doctor Woodcombe… both 's and… somebody else. The preparations are complete and the window appears to be ninety minutes." The nurse just as quickly turned around and left.

"Ell, if there's somebody you need to help, I'll still be here when you get back."

"If you will the only other person in here would be Devon."

Chuck looked back down rubbing his thumb along the back of Sarah's hand, still looking at her as he croaked, "So you are still trying to help her?"

"Yes… and others." Ellie added softly.

"Why have Sarah in some cast-off room if you are still treating her?"

"Chuck, after the suppression her brain was healing, but no memories were returning. She was not losing anymore of them, but there was a portion of her brain that was severely damaged and was not healing. After running a few tests and specifically comparing this one area from previous tests; we concluded that she was not likely to regain her memories organically. Which allowed for some options: accept it and move on, try and implant the memories via the Intersect, or try to find a way to repair that area of the brain. She absolutely refused option B and was less than thrilled with option A. She was curious about the last one and there is a group in Oslo, which I had made an agreement with in conjunction with the Pasteur Institute that was having some success with regenerating brains in rats. After contacting them they were in the process of beginning human trials I offered Patient Y and impressed that placing her in the control group would not be wise. Seeing how quickly I was prepared to jump in they opened up and said their practical timetable was in a year or two. There were a number of items that I thought would advance the project and in sharing it they agreed to see if their results coincided with my simulations. Being a woman of action she obviously wasn't happy to wait around on testing, but I told her as soon as I was comfortable we would proceed."

Chuck with the momentary pause opened his mouth, but realized the questions he wanted to ask were completely off the line she was taking and not knowing how Ellie would respond. In the past sometimes she would just walk off and ignore Chuck, other times just continue the way she was going, and other times answer his questions. Not wanting to risk the first he merely pleaded with his eyes to speed up to tell how Sarah ended up in this bed.

Ellie recognized this and was surprised he hadn't spoken up, so she talked briefly about the next series of tests and in looking over the notes from Oslo and calibrating them from rat to human found it should be possible to regenerate brain tissue. She informed them this room was where they had done the majority of work and that since Miss Walker had nothing else to do she became a de facto assistant.

After a repeat of the rat tests showed the same results as the simulations Ellie felt extremely confident as to what levels all the components needed to be. There was only one thing stopping her; the law. Performing a surgery not approved by the FDA could result in the ability to never practice again not to mention prison. Even with the patient's consent the general exception is for life saving and when accepted procedures are not available. As to be expected the patient was not pleased with this, but did not go ballistic instead she wanted to know what things were needed in order to proceed. As Ellie described them a plan was formed, the paper that put Ellie's name in the medical forefront written with the scientists in Oslo and Pasteur started bringing attention and money to her. The backdoor channeling allowed the timetable to hasten, but again the studies before human testing could occur would take eight to twelve months.

Both were hoping for it to be quicker, but after Ellie had gone through everything for the umpteenth time she asked Miss Walker if she wanted to go ahead anyways, everything in front of her told her that the procedure would work. However there was no guarantee of the lost memories returning. They reset this room for the recovery and performed the procedure. It was painstakingly simple and seemed to go as planned.

"Then why is she still here?" Chuck asked in a pained tone.

"The patient suffered a stroke."

"Stop calling her a patient or Y or whatever, this is my wife, your sister, Sarah."

Ellie shook her head, "She is my patient, and I will not give her any more or less consideration than any of my other patients." She coolly stated then pulled out her phone and texted something.

"Before you ask, I just canceled the procedure… I assume you will want to stay with her."

"Why?"

Ellie just looked at Chuck her eyes asking for any inkling where he wanted to go with the question. Unfortunately he was acting as if the answer to his question should be easily exclaimed. "Why what?"

Chuck huffed, but quickly realized there were a lot of interpretations to that question so her response wasn't as purposefully thick as he initially assumed, "Why keep me in the dark?"

Ellie responded quickly, "To protect you, you would have dropped absolutely everything and sat with her twenty-four/seven/three hundred sixty-five; each day she didn't wake up I get to watch your heart break more. Seeing the guilt because you believe you forced her to do this, forgetting to eat and then lying that you had. If I thought there was something you could have done I would have contacted you." Like most arguments with Ellie he can understand her points. All of those things she described would most likely have happened with this knowledge, but there was still something that was different about her demeanor.

"While you are probably right to my reaction and I'll let you and Devon hash out your keeping this from him later; if Sarah never woke up would you have never told me?"

Ellie almost answered immediately, but stopped and closed her eyes. After a moment she nodded her head. Chuck was flummoxed as he felt betrayed by the one person he never considered doing that to him. The room fell into an awkward silence as neither sibling wanted to acknowledge the other; Chuck tended to Sarah whispering things in her ear while softly holding one hand in his and with the other massaging her temple and caressing her head.

This left the other person in the room able to speak in a quandary; he did have questions that he wanted answers to, but asking them now could destroy the relationship that appeared to be hanging on by a thread and affect his thoughts on the woman he loved and admired. The nervous energy from watching this ended up forcing a decision as he looked to Ellie, "Why are there multiple scars and her chart is so sparse?"

Ellie looked at him with a scowl and her eyes glared at her husband, "You decide to chime in now, both of you deciding on THIS day to come at me. You don't think I have enough pressure on myself right now… Fuck this." Ellie turned around and took a step towards the door, while the two men just looked at her mouths agape as the profanity completely took both by surprise. Then Ellie stopped and locked the door.

She motioned them towards her, but neither man moved. Refocusing her glare brought them to her, albeit reluctantly and she hissed out in a low tone, "Do you have any idea, how many people I can help?" Both still stared at her with their eyes wide open. "Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Autism, there's a possible link to asthma and other diseases or illnesses. What I am doing here can make a huge difference in the world." Still no response, brought out a harshness in her tone, "If you both fucking forgot how to speak at least blink your damn eyes so I know you're still alive." Devon blinked, but Chuck merely swallowed.

Chuck took in a breath and somehow managed to stammer out, "How bad was the stroke?"

Ellie paused and released a breath before answering, "She lost the vision in her right eye, and her movements on her left side were slightly affected, but if she wakes up it may only slow her necessary rehab."

"When." Chuck added with a growing authority.

Ellie gave a swift nod and shrugged her shoulders, "Positivity is important."

With Chuck's timidity fading, Devon began to feel his confidence return, "This may not be the opportune time for this, but we are here, so Ellie what is happening?"

"I've told you."

"No, you've glossed over it."

"Fine, after the stroke I went and double checked the equipment for the procedure. There was a small difference between one piece and its backup. The scars were the attempts to extract the sliver."

Chuck chimed in, "Why then do some scars look far more recent than others?"

Ellie stood with her lips tightly together, the others were unsure if she was simply ignoring the question or debating to explain her actions. As the answer to Devon's second question materialized in his head, shaking it a few times as he prayed it wasn't true. "You've got a second set of books for Sarah, don't you?"

Ellie registered shock, and as her eyes tilted downward slightly, both Devon and Chuck knew that was true?"

"Why would you do that?" Chuck asked.

"In case Sarah never woke up." Devon responded turning away from his wife. Chuck looked back and forth between the two much like an expectant child waiting for his parents to respond to his question.

"Precautions had to be taken."

"What! This doesn't make any sense; if Sarah never woke up and she… not only would you have not told me, but you would have her listed as what a Jane Doe?"

Ellie nodded her head with no emotion and Chuck continued to stare at her bewildered as another thought drove a chill down Devon's spine, "Ellie, do not lie to me. How many attempts were there before finding the sliver?"

"We got it out on the first try."

"Damn you Ellie; how can you do that to the both of them? Please tell me I'm wrong." Devon stated now himself glaring at his wife.

She looked back at him with a cool and detached look, "It is for the greater good."

Chuck almost howled hearing the words that for a few years meant being cast into some dark hole in the ground or, what he dubbed, the Intersect Final Solution, "Ellie, I need to hear this from you and not Devon. What in God's name were you doing with Sarah if you weren't trying to retrieve the piece you left in her?"

"I did not leave anything in her, and there is nothing to signify that the sliver had anything to do with what happened to her. I was performing some tests."

Devon, hearing his fears affirmed slumped his shoulders and then looked at his watch, shook his head and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ellie inquired with a decent amount of panic in her voice.

"Your Mom's flight is due in about twenty minutes; with traffic it's probably going to take me forty-five to get there. Mary never seemed one for patience." The door was unlocked, opened, and closed before either one said anything else. Ellie was still looking at the door while Chuck made his way back to Sarah.

Ellie took a deep breath, "Do you want me to order you a pizza?" Turning around and finding another astonished look from Chuck, "I am not a monster, or that full of myself to think of only me, but you are staying with her and not going to the dinner?"

Chuck simply nodded, unsure of what he was going to say; if he could take the words burning in his brain back, or worse he would not want to. He closed his eyes for a second, then kissed Sarah's hand and held it against his forehead. "Testing?" came out of Chuck's mouth haltingly as he knew he did not want to know the answer to this.

"It has been a valuable source of information; the different parts of the brain regenerate at different speeds and…" Ellie trailed off, noticing how pale Chuck had become.

Chuck had closed his eyes once Ellie started to answer and focused on breathing; when she was done he swallowed. After a moment Chuck recovered, but Sarah had a hitch in her breath and Ellie jumped back, "How can you be scared of her?"

"Ever since I found out about that bullet, I have been. A second or two and I might not be here." Ellie sighed, stepping closer to the bed as Sarah appeared to be possibly awakening.

"One last question for the time as I don't want to learn anymore right now," Chuck using his Carmichael voice definitely insinuating there would be more questions later, "Why play this DVD over and over?"

"It was the patient's wish." Ellie said simply.

Barely seeing any semblance to his sister in her explanation restoked the anger in Chuck, "I'd like you to leave." He said forcefully.

"Chuck, she looks like she's possibly about to wake up. There could easily be a complication."

"And you don't want another doctor treating her… send in your nurse and you can get gussied up for your big evening."

Ellie looked confusingly at Chuck, then to the person in the bed, whose eyelids looked as they were trying to open, "Chuck, I…"

"You are wrong. I did lose my sister that day." Chuck stared at Ellie for a moment, but brought his gaze back to his wife rubbing his thumb across her forehead and kissing her temple as the only sounds Ellie heard were the clicks of her heels as she left the room.

_**A/N: For those saying she is out of character and I didn't spell out what caused her change enough, here is my simple explanation. Hearing about the bullet shocked her into going to over protective mother mode, most probably giving her a potential for PTSD. Losing the Sarah she loved and instead having Agent Walker around with Ellie's Chuck was unacceptable at that point. At the hospital she initially rebuked her for the same reason, ignoring that Sarah wanted what she had lost. The incident brought Ellie back until her mistake and since she was unwilling to admit it, just as she was getting accolades Sarah became the dark secret that could ruin her, but Ellie also believed that in bringing her back all would be forgiven. Her attitude towards Sarah was based on her mistake; minimalizing Sarah was also lessening the guilt and concentrating instead on the praise and award allowed her to lose focus on what made her the Ellie that we know.**_

_**I worked this ending backwards as I came up with the setting for the epilogue that I really liked. Since I didn't do my scorched earth ending I had to change it as initially it was set in a cemetery on Chuck's birthday ten years after his death. There are only a few things that have changed from the original. I borrowed a lyric from Coward of the County, just an fyi. Thanks as always for reading. Also, I just finished this and yet to review any grammatical please pm me. Thanks again.**_


	10. Epilogue: Abomination

_**A/N: The ending and epilogue were posted at the same time so, if you did not read the ending resulting in this you need to go back to the last chapter. Thanks.**_

* * *

**Abomination Epilogue**

**Fourteen years after the events at the hospital in a nondescript dive bar in Salinas, California**

John Casey leaned back and relished the flavors from one of the Generalissimo's private reserve cigars. He would have preferred a slightly nicer place to partake as he cursed the moron for softening him up. It also didn't help he had to settle for Dewar's as they didn't have any Johnnie Walker. As he drained his glass he looked around the bar; it wasn't pristine, but it was clean. The patrons seemed to be regulars as it was fairly quiet and were more than happy to keep to themselves and the bartender seemed to know everybody's drink and with about thirty people in there he had almost everybody's timing down seemingly ready with the next drink just as they were about to ask for it. On second thought he was beginning to like this bar… despite the lack of whiskey choices. Just then another glass was set in front of him taking him away from his musings. Looking at it and confirming it with a whiff of its spicy aroma he looked at the bartender with his fifty percent glare, to intimidate a little, but more wanting to know the answer.

"I'm down to half of my last bottle and my supplier isn't due back for another week. You can thank the lady at the end of the bar, Ellie… but she's a nice lady, not like that… she is just nice." The bartender gave his own glare to which Casey gave a respectful nod before what he said fully settled.

'Ellie… he couldn't recall the last time he had seen her… Castle? So much has happened. Chuck's outburst that led to an investigation that not only took the award away from her it got her medical license suspended along with a divorce at the same time. The last time her name was even mentioned was a Thanksgiving maybe ten years ago when Devon's new wife decimated the turkey and numbnuts made the mistake of saying what everybody thought almost getting himself disinvited to Christmas. The easy play is to politely decline the drink and leave, but he had to laugh when he tried to think of the last time he took the easy way out as he grabbed the glass and headed to the back of the bar.

"For a second I didn't think you were going to accept it."

"Turning down a free Johnnie Walker isn't my style. It has been a long time." They both sat quietly for a moment just letting that last sentence linger.

"Al, I'll have another."

"Ellie, it is going to be your third and you said you weren't going past three."

"I know, put it in a twelve ounce glass add more cola to it and another dash of vanilla. Thanks."

"You got it."

Ellie turned back to John, "It's my version of a Long Island Iced Tea… I'm sure there are plenty of other things you'd want to ask first. How's Gertrude… if you guys are still…"

"We are doing great, she's in Miami wrapping up the security contract for the Super Bowl, and actually I just finished up my last field operation. The past few years I've almost been exclusively training, but I had to do a final solo mission before hanging up my guns."

"You didn't…"

"No, strictly retrieval… Well the moron's head may have bumped into my fist a dozen times or so; funny how those things happen." Ellie tried to give a relaxed smile, but even Casey could tell smiles were a foreign commodity for this Ellie.

Soon her drink was in front of her and she turned holding the glass in her hand silently asking Casey to pick his up for a toast; as soon as he did she clinked her glass to his and stated, "To my daughter Clara who graduated from high school yesterday."

Casey swallowed and opened his mouth, but had no idea how to ask. Ellie picked up on this and answered it for him, "I was not invited, but thanks to Facebook I saw the announcement. I took this whole week off to stay in Chicago and give her the opportunity to at least see me; maybe get to know one another if she wanted to." It surprised Casey, the lack of emotion in the once overly emotional woman.

Curiosity got the better of Casey as the words, "What happened?" left his mouth.

Ellie halted before finally saying, "Can you tell me how everybody else is doing first?"

'There is a pathway fraught with landmines' Casey immediately thought, "Alex and Morgan married and have a daughter who thankfully takes after her mother in almost all aspects, they named her Kathy and she's ten." Casey was now stuck not knowing which was the better way to proceed, finally deciding to go with the chocolate and his peanut butter, "Sarah is blind in the one eye, but has regained full mobility. Due to her spy-life and everything else doctors said a full-term birth was a great risk so they've adopted five children; only one was a baby and he is now five, two were teenagers with one in college and the other having graduated and now works with them, the last two were younger; one was three the other five. The five year old was their first and she is going to be a senior in high school while the three year old is now ten."

"How are they doing?" Ellie asked tentatively.

"It's nice, but scary. You leave them alone for a few minutes and when you come back they still go at it like teenagers." Ellie had a smile, but it registered the loss she felt, "Molly is going to Law School and Emma is living in a cottage on Chuck's property. He bought a twenty acre parcel after bringing Sarah back from Chicago; part of her rehab was riding a horse and this gave them more than enough room. He rehabbed the home and had an office built and then cottages for both of their mom's." Casey grimaced as the last word came out, "I'm sorry."

Ellie shrugged her shoulders; using their instead of including her making it your was at best a trivial faux pas, but the worried look did not leave his face and when his jaw set Ellie forced herself to ask, "What happened, John?"

"After fully leaving the CIA, your mother did a number of things: surfed the Great Barrier Reef, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, even polished off some ghost chili wings… a little over two years ago she was climbing a number of rock formations outside of Mesa and her line broke. She didn't suffer…" Casey hurriedly added.

Ellie stilled, blinked her eyes a few times, and took a small sip of her drink, "Thank you for telling me, and I am sorry that you had to be the one to do so." She tiredly sighed, "Where is she?"

"She's next to your father."

Ellie nodded while mentally kicking herself that it's been five years since she visited him, taking a moment to catch the breath as the thought crossed her mind that she most definitely had outdone her mother in child rearing as she promised herself she would; she never thought it would have been in the negative way. Allowing another small sip to burn its way down calmed her; just another reminder of her place in the universe, "So I'm guessing Devon remarried if you saved him for last."

"Yes, about a year after the divorce he married Emily after dating her for about a month. She stayed at home, PTA…"

"Cooks?" Casey chuckled at that.

"No, she tries and Morgan has helped her a lot (cooking lessons were his punishment for the Thanksgiving transgression), but it hasn't really clicked. She does love Clara and treats her well."

Ellie gave a small nod at that, "Do they have any children?"

"No, I don't know if they ever really tried for it or if there was a problem." Casey slugged down the remainder in his glass to stop from saying they both made sure to be there for all of Clara's recitals, musical and dance, plays, soccer and basketball games, even her two week stint as a cheerleader. In a sixth sense maneuver the bartender quickly poured three fingers into the tumbler in front of Casey, who nodded his thanks.

"I guess I've delayed as long as I can unless there's somebody else." Casey shook his head. "Well, are you interested in the entire story?" Casey thought about it for a moment and taking a slow sip he nodded his head and shrugged.

"When Chuck caused the disruption, I think what made it more poignant was the fact I was alone at my table of eight; one of the hospital administrators was caught up on the Edens (one of the many expressways in Chicago) with her husband while the other couple had come down with food poisoning that morning. After he was escorted out they halted the ceremony and began the investigation that very night.

It took longer than it should have for me to realize I was being punished almost as much for how I did things as to what I did. It didn't help as my 'partners' stayed in collaboration and used my research nabbing the Nobel Prize in Medicine a year later. Initially I wasn't entirely sure how, but my punishment from the AMA somehow got combined with my divorce and a potential criminal case. At first I was to get a lifetime ban, but I was then given a choice: a two year suspended license, concurrent with a suspended sentence if I did not fight for custodial rights or I could fight them all separately, lose and be a felon whose job aspirations lie within catching the good shift at whichever fast food restaurant took pity on me after my sentence. They gave me a day to think about it and coming up with no viable alternative I took the deal.

At first I assumed Devon and his family were behind at least some of it, especially when the divorce proceeding came up first. However they were all shocked with my agreeing to their initial offer, of course it didn't help that my brother and mother were sitting on Devon's side refusing to look at me. In fact his side was overflowing with people choosing to stand rather than be marked by sitting on my side, but there was one person sitting in the back row and the dominoes began to fall in place. The next day I had to go before the court again, this time on the criminal matter and nobody showed up. I'm not sure which felt worse. Everything went down as the deal designated and two days later before the AMA board they again abided by the deal. Leaving that room I was stopped by a messenger who handed me my termination notice from the hospital. After going there to collect the last of my belongings I went back to the hotel that I had been staying at and entering my room Director Bentley was sitting there."

"She was still after the intersect?"

"Yes, she had set up all three deals to soften me up; being jobless, penniless, homeless, and friendless can make almost any offer seem worthwhile. It was fairly simple: I would work on the Intersect for the next two years or when it was completed. The only caveat was I had to buy a house that was at least ten miles away from any hospital, one of the conditions from the AMA… it doesn't make sense to me either. Wanting to get back to consistent warm weather I looked in New Mexico and found this tiny ranch house on the outskirts of Taos. I showed it to her and she said it would suffice; it was easy to spot anybody from coming and it happened to have a bunker. The person who built it back in the fifties had it built in case the 'Russkies started something'" Stopping to notice Casey's smile the pang of loneliness that she suppressed hit her full on.

Twirling the straw in her drink and taking a sip gave her the time to continue, "Bentley set up supposedly the top motion monitors that can discern a hostile from a bunny rabbit and offered me the latest computer along with a solar generator and an industrial dish along with a stipend of one thousand dollars a month, in exchange for constant surveillance… video surveillance, along with always wearing this GPS watch that could also receive texts. The first few months weren't bad as I was progressing rather well with my research, but about eight months in the isolation started to get to me. Sorry, since I was supposed to be under constant surveillance every week the CIA would drop off my groceries and deduct it from the stipend. The first few times they would knock and I would offer them water or coffee, but apparently that bugged them as they stopped knocking and just left them on the front doorstep. Twenty months in I had the breakthrough for it… Did Chuck ever tell you about his exposure to the Intersect as a child?"

"Yes, but why did you skip from seven to twenty months?"

"It may have been a long time, but I cannot believe John, that you would be comfortable with me talking about my lady feelings." Casey shrugged his acceptance and looking over at her could tell how she did it; locking away that part of her that was keeping her from getting the job done. With her description that was perhaps the only way to keep her sanity.

"My answer didn't make Bentley very happy. A universal Intersect would not be possible. You could do short term uploads, but the reason it worked for Chuck is because after that initial accidental upload whether by design or another accident my dad went forward using Chuck's brain as the template. Each person's brain chemistry and processing is unique so simply artificially implanting something that was designed for somebody else's brain is given enough time going to cause problems for anyone. You didn't mention how Chuck was doing… did he get the Intersect suppressed?"

"Yes, shortly after getting Sarah, Mary broke into the archives on a Friday grabbing the suppression glasses and returned them Monday morning with no problems on either end. He doesn't talk as much as he used to, but that's kind of a good thing." He figured this was the second best person who could break her façade, but it held firm.

"Good, especially with all the uploads and suppressions just having it active could lead to severe problems later on; regardless you should tell them to monitor for headaches, shaking, forgetfulness. The last few months were spent on retooling it so that it can be effectively used on other people using an assortment of brain scans to shape how the intersect is best utilized by the brain. Separating out the different areas of skill to the corresponding area of the brain would make it more efficient and most likely to be. Actually that part I had already started on the first time I was given Dad's computer.

One of the other reasons for the 'bad' Intersect was it had both my dad's and my protocols in it, so in some instances they were probably flashing twice. The key was a filtering device controlling both the speed the information was being delivered and also crudely attempting the separation… Sorry, I don't get to talk about that stuff anymore, anyways what got me thinking about the key is that it was all three's insurance policy, and it made me think that I should find one.

Unfortunately after my advancing the project, they started giving me some freedom. I was able to go into town and shop; they gave me a car, of course I knew it was chock full of things to tell where I was, but that small amount of freedom was intoxicating. Knowing one key factor that helps with lifting an AMA suspension is having a number of opportunities for employment, I spent quite a bit of time sending my resume and a letter to almost two hundred hospitals. I got three letters stating I could interview, but absolutely no guarantees. They allowed me to have my appeal heard in LA and in a three to two vote they reinstated my license with a five year probationary period.

Unbeknownst to me, Bentley visited my house and took all my research there, taking the dish and generator and somehow after they left my home burned to the ground and the bunker was destroyed as well. Upon my return I was arrested for suspicion of arson and since I couldn't make bail I sat in jail… huh a rhyme, after a week I got my first visit; my lawyer was more concerned on getting paid so he didn't want to run up too much of a tab, so instead I got to sit opposite Director Bentley with another job opportunity. Now that I had my credentials back she wanted me to work in DC helping to run the testing and continue the research and I would be given a salary more commensurate with the work that I was doing. The problem was at this point I wanted nothing more to do with it; everybody else in my family, my parents and brother's lives revolved around the damn thing for so long and I was done; I had done everything I wanted to do with it. She heard me say the words, but offered the same threat from two years ago. She was unhappy when I laughed in her face; prison or working for her there was no difference."

Casey swirled the liquid in his glass, but did not make any motion to drink it. He set the glass back down on the counter and stared at Ellie. On the surface what she said made complete sense, but the way she phrased some things made his mind start to work. The first conclusion that came to him made him think, 'If she did that she is definitely her father's daughter'. He saw Ellie's face panic for a moment and he realized he must have said that out loud, "You didn't did you?"

Ellie nodded her head slightly and then stared up and down Casey before closing her eyes. Even in the muted lighting Casey could see her eyeballs pushing against her eyelids for a moment. Casey was shaking her head when he felt Ellie's hand on top of his, "Your right hand is already experiencing arthritis, your left is going to do so shortly, but there is slight nerve damage to the left arm, left knee is probably looking at a replacement in six months, slight curvature of the spine, but on the good side, there are no signs of cirrhosis."

"You uploaded medical stuff?"

"I was hoping it would be a perk to help me land a job, I had no access nor wanted to know any government secrets. This could allow me to help people the way I wanted to… if it didn't work I have a suppression program at the ready; if I chose to use it."

"You said you took the week off, so can I assume you are working as a doctor?"

"After my meeting with Bentley, I was stuck in jail for eight months as the DA tried to build the case. It was difficult as my alibi was completely solid and they couldn't find a motive. I could not make the payments on the home insurance so it had lapsed. The DA dropped the case and called me into his office upon my release. He apologized for the duration of my internment, but the DOJ was railing on him about this case. He also said I should be wary as somebody was trying to frame me as evidence mysteriously turned up and could not be corroborated or hold up under scrutiny. I was surprised Bentley wasn't there, but I guessed she had either found somebody else or was waiting for me to flop on the outside.

I didn't bother going back to the house as I couldn't imagine there being anything of value still there, so I got a ticket for the next bus to LA, eventually I got to my bank and went to my security deposit box and although it looked disturbed there was nothing missing. In case things didn't work out in Chicago… I wasn't ready to fully leave California. I took the contents which included a little over four thousand in cash and closed my account that added a couple hundred. I found the cheapest, cleanest place to stay that had Wi-Fi and paid for a week. I bought a prepaid phone and tried the last numbers I had for Chuck and Devon… I just wanted to hear their voices, but they both had changed numbers… John, I know I could have tried their work numbers…" Ellie trailed off as Casey could see her walls crumbling, but she regained control quickly.

"I spent the first few days at the beach, just trying to I guess both remember the far past and try to forget the recent past… does that make sense?" Casey nodded, "I then began my job search again, concentrating on West Coast hospitals as I didn't want to waste my limited funds traveling across the country. Not surprisingly I had no offers to interview and just a few said they would hold onto it if something opened up shortly. I expanded the search a little more and only received an inquiry from a hospital in Hermosillo; one that I never even applied to. I assumed it was a Bentley trap, something would happen and either I'd be stuck in Mexico or worse and I'd need her to get me out. Even after expanding to the entire US and getting nothing I did start to become a little paranoid that somehow Bentley was able to blackball me. Granted my reputation was garbage, but still… somewhere…

After two weeks I was wavering about going to see Chuck; I was positive I could deal with scorn, contempt, even hatred, but not pity. It was then I got a call from the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital stating one of their general practitioners had an auto accident and would not be able to resume his duties for some time. The job was three shifts at the hospital and then two at the free clinic. I told him I would be up there asap for the interview, but he said I came highly recommended from his roommate in medical school who was one of the administrators at Westside and would be put to work almost immediately. He offered a three week period, after which they would decide if this was the right move for both. It was the best decision I had made in a long time. It isn't ambitious or anything to get excited over, but doing good work helps keep the demons away at night."

Casey looked as though he was about to say something, but paused unsure how to phrase it, "Are you trying to ask if things are so good, why am I in a bar where I've created a drink?" Casey grunted approvingly at that, "Not all days are good ones and I simply cannot go back to my house after my shift and have a glass of wine, or two, anymore. Something about being alone drinking makes me replay everything I should have done differently and I'd wake up in my chair with two bottles of wine emptied. I delivered the owner's baby… ten years ago and he insisted I come to his place. It's not too loud and you aren't crowded or felt compelled to talk, although if you want to most of the people here are decent listeners. No, I haven't discussed anything government related or really anything about my past with anybody."

"Why aren't you in Chicago?"

"I was detained," The rhythm Ellie had while talking was gone and Casey regretted asking the question. He had forgotten how much he had liked her and as she was talking more it seemed more like the Ellie he knew.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry."

Ellie combined a gurgle with a giggle as her instant response, "It's ok John; supposedly there is an Eleanor Bartowksi on a no fly list so they took me to LAX jail and said they had to wait for the State Department to get back as to what they were going to do with me. They kept me for two and a half days releasing me this morning with an apology that they were after a different Eleanor Bartowski."

"Did they at least offer you a flight to Chicago?"

"They said they would send a coupon that would supposedly cover any flight and return in the contiguous forty-eight states. At that point I was grateful they had my suitcase and I just drove the five hours back, grabbed something to eat, showered, and then headed here." Ellie took a sizable gulp bypassing the straw and looked drained. Casey recognized handling this would type of situation would never be a part of his skill set.

"You know Alex was without me longer than you have been without Clara." Casey let out a silent prayer that this would be the correct thing to say.

"It is different, you didn't know of her existence and she had believed you were dead… but I appreciate the effort. You reap what you sow..." The emotion clearly evident on Ellie's face she stood from her chair started towards Casey, but awkwardly stopped. She turned to the bartender and asked, "We good?" at his nod she then looked to Casey and tilted her head to follow her outside. Casey lifted his pointer finger and lifted his glass which still had some Johnnie Walker left.

As the door closed he gulped down the amber liquid and motioned the bartender over placing two hundred dollar bills on the counter, "Put this to her tab and she is a nice lady." The bartender smiled and nodded when Casey got up and left through the door Ellie had a minute prior.

"How much did you put to my tab?"

"Two-hundred."

"Oh my gosh you think I'm a lush?"

Casey let out a hearty laugh, "Hardly, I don't care if it lasts a year or a week. I don't know anybody who is perfect and your fuck-ups were huge. It isn't my place, but you need to see everybody again. If it goes poorly at least you know; if it goes well then maybe… I don't know." Casey ended with a simple grunt.

"John can you do something for me, but let me tell you what it is first." She opened her car door and took out a box and handed it to Casey, "That's ok you can look inside."

Casey took the lid off and saw it was filled with envelopes, picking one out at random it was sealed, but was also stamped in red: Return to Sender and also saw to whom the letter was addressed. "I'll do it."

"You don't even know..." The look Casey gave her made it obvious that he knew exactly what she wanted him to do and she instinctually responded by wrapping him in a hug, it wasn't close to what his remembrance of them, but he could tell she was putting everything into it that she could. "Thank you John." She added before pulling away and quickly getting into her car and starting it. Ellie put the window down, "I'd offer something, but I have nothing at my house and I have another long drive ahead of me for tomorrow. It was really great seeing you and thanks once again."

The window was back up before Casey could reply. He watched as the car disappeared beyond a hill and took a deep breath to confirm what just happened was real. Looking down at the box was enough to convince him he pulled out his phone and punched speed dial one, "Hey, I know you wanted me back asap, but something came up and I need to stop off in Chicago and make a delivery."

_**A/N: The scary thing about this epilogue is it planted an idea about Ellie going on a journey of attempted redemption (as if I don't already have enough stories floating around in my head). **_


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